A government Web site for calculating pension changes following proposed reforms to the pension system should include calculations for working teachers, because they will bear the brunt of the costs, National Senior High School Teachers’ Union officials said yesterday.
“The government should not use false information to mislead teachers by saying that they will still receive monthly pensions of more than NT$50,000 under the new system,” union director-general Huang Yao-nan (黃耀南) said, adding that the calculator on the Ministry of Civil Service’s Web site fails to take into account pension benefit parameter changes for those who have yet to retire.
Teachers who are subject to the new system are those who started working after the 1995 reforms that eliminated the 18 percent preferential interest rate for government employees.
Photo: CNA
They would be eligible for retirement after 25 years of service, compared with 35 years under the old system, because of their later entry into the profession due to time spent in tertiary education.
Cash contributions to pension funds by teachers subject to the new system are also to be increased by 50 percent.
While the calculator is accurate for changes to pension benefits, many current teachers might be unaware that their benefits will be subject to a different set of parameters, Huang said, calling on the ministry to add new settings applicable to teachers of today.
A notice above the calculator says its estimates only apply to retirees, with a retirement date column used to exclude requests by those still working.
“The estimates provided by the calculator are different from the actual situation, but most teachers are not aware of that, so when you enter the numbers it can appear that there is not a significant impact,” he said.
“The reality is that the draft bill would cut a big part of currently employed teachers’ retirement benefits and every cut would strike to the bone,” he said.
Huang added that while the calculator says retired teachers with at least some seniority under the pre-1995 system would be paid pensions based on their final and highest salary, according to the pension reform plans they would be paid pensions based on the average salary of their final 15 years of employment.
Huang said the situation was a “government trick” to deceive the public and mitigate opposition to reform.
The Ministry of Education said the Web site makes it clear that the calculator is for retired teachers to estimate how reforms might affect their pensions and that is why the system has set the base year at the final-year salary.
A formula for working teachers is still being deliberated and it will launch another calculator after the pension reform committee comes up with a complete reform plan that would allow working teachers to understand their rights, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard