Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) yesterday called for changes to the Employee Welfare Fund Act (職工福利金條例). to slash benefits for employees of state-run enterprises.
Lu said he was seeking the support of other lawmakers to file such an amendment in the legislature.
The plan to amend the law follows a public outcry against the massive benefits enjoyed by employees of state-owned companies, in particular oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan, and electricity supplier Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
Public anger has mounted following CPC’s raising of domestic fuel prices by between 7 and 11 percent on Monday to curb widening losses.
Although the firm is operating in the red, its employees still enjoy massive welfare benefits.
The public is even more furious, as the government is considering raising electricity tariffs to help Taipower, which said it has accumulated losses because of high energy costs.
In addition to the welfare benefits, employees of state-owned companies receive year-end bonuses of up to 4.6 months of their annual salaries.
Lu said the proposed amendment to the Employee Welfare Fund Act would focus on the amount of welfare benefits a state-owned company is allowed to assign to its employees.
It would require state-owned companies to assign 2 percent of the total salaries of their employees as financial benefits, the legislator said.
Current regulations allow state-run firms to assign a fraction of their monthly revenue as welfare funds for their employees.
Once the revision is approved by the legislature, the average benefits for CPC employees for this year would fall to NT$7,800, compared with an estimated NT$48,818 at present, Lu said.
In the case of Taipower, average benefits would drop to NT$5,583, from NT$29,926, he said.
Lu said it was no longer acceptable for loss-making state-owned companies such as CPC and Taipower to disburse massive funds as perks for their employees, as this would only further squeeze their bottom lines.
Moreover, as many state-owned companies are either monopolies or oligopolies, they generate massive revenues, making the current welfare benefit system inappropriate, he said.
He added that the welfare benefit appropriation measures had not been revisited for almost 70 years, and it was time to review the rules.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS