The outcomes of forums and consultations with teachers were not incorporated into pension reform proposals submitted by the Ministry of Education, protesters said yesterday, demanding that adjustments be made before draft legislation is submitted to the Legislative Yuan.
Dozens of National Federation of Teachers Unions members and retired military personnel — who have been camped outside the legislature to protest the government’s pension reform effort — protested outside the Executive Yuan, shouting slogans accusing the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Education of deception, and calling on Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) to resign.
Following the conclusion of the National Pension Reform Commission, different government bodies were tasked with drafting specific legislation for their employees, but the Ministry of Education chose not to alter the commission’s version, federation president Huang Yao-nan (黃耀南) said, criticizing the ministry for failing to follow the example of the Examination Yuan.
The Examination Yuan version of draft legislation for civil servants includes more favorable terms to calculate pensions, including higher “replacement ratios” relative to base salaries.
“However, the Ministry of Education has the audacity to send the version advocated by [Minister Without Portfolio] Lin Wan-i (林萬億) back to the Executive Yuan without even touching the seal,” he said, adding that the ministry has broken its promise to adhere to the Examination Yuan version.
The ministry has also refused to publish the results of an internal survey of teachers’ opinions it conducted, he added.
“Since the National Pension Reform Commission began its deliberations, the height of the petitions and materials that we have submitted exceeded my height, but while the commission and the Ministry of Education said they would be considered, the result is Lin Wan-I’s version,” Taipei School Education Union president Lee Hui-lan (李惠蘭) said.
Retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) criticized the proposed NT$32,160 monthly pension ceiling for continued eligibility for the preferential 18 percent savings rate.
“Retired military personnel spent their youth for the nation — that is not something you can turn into a simple number,” he said, “The government has been saying that we would be handled separately from civil servants and teachers, but now Lin Wan-I is saying that the standards for preferential savings rates eligibility will be the same — does that not belie previous statements?”
The Ministry of National Defense is drafting pension reform legislation for retired military personnel.
Lin on Sunday said that preferential savings rate eligibility would be the same in principle for civil servants and teachers.
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