The central government’s year-end bonuses of NT$130 billion (US$4.47 billion) for last year were a far cry from to the bonuses received by ordinary workers, which is ironic for a government claiming to stress fairness, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
“While 48 percent of more than 9 million salaried workers will not receive any bonus for their hard work last year, the government will be handing out a bonus of NT$130 billion to central government employees,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a press conference.
The year-end bonus includes NT$54.6 billion for central government agency employees, NT$38 billion for Enterprise Funds employees and NT$28.6 billion for Nonprofit Funds workers — to be received regardless of their performance, Pan said.
“And we have not even included the performance bonus,” he added.
The DPP caucus conducted a survey on the government agencies and 47 funds supervised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the ministry’s Financial Supervisory Commission and found that civil servants received substantial bonuses.
For example, employees at the Taiwan Residential Earthquake Insurance Fund (住宅地震保險基金), Motor Vehicle Accident Compensation Fund (交通事故特別補償基金) and Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finances all received a bonus equivalent to between 3.5 and 4.6 times their monthly salaries despite being non-profit institutions, DPP Legislator He Hsin-chun (何欣純) said.
The caucus also found that most foundations with austerity budgets still allocate a 4.6 month annual bonus for their employees, he said.
“The practice could incite public rage against civil servants. The employees of these foundations and public funds should all be treated as government employees and be evaluated on their performance accordingly,” said DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌).
If the government does not take action against the unfair practice, it would be the biggest contributor to the increasing wealth gap and social injustice in Taiwan, DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said.
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