The legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee is tomorrow to begin reviewing proposed pension reforms for public-school teachers.
The issues to be addressed include the age at which retired elementary and junior-high school teachers start receiving pensions and whether retired teachers working in part-time jobs should forfeit their pensions.
The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions has been lobbying legislative caucuses to lower the age at which retired teachers can receive pensions to 55. The Pension Reform Committee advocates a minimum age of 60.
In the past, teachers began their careers in their early 20s, but teachers now mostly start work aged 27 or 28, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said.
According to the existing pension system, public-school teachers must either work 30 years or reach 60 following 25 years of service before they are allowed to retire, which means that most teachers would now be nearing 60 when they retire, she said.
Although some parents are concerned that elderly teachers might be unfit for the job, she said that teachers considered old can pass on their valuable experience to younger teachers.
As to whether retired teachers holding part-time teaching jobs should have to forfeit their pensions, Ministry of Civil Service official Lu Ming-tai (呂明泰) said retired teachers who have fixed class hours can have their pensions affected under the current system.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said that retired teachers should still receive the portion of their pensions funded by government-made investments using monthly deductions from their salaries, which makes up 35 percent of their full pensions, adding that part-time teachers do not block teachers seeking full-time positions from finding work.
The pension rules should not be too lax or they would defeat the purpose of reform, DPP Legislator Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) said.
Going by the ministry’s proposed rules, if retired professors who teach for six hours per week make more than the minimum wage they would have to forfeit their pensions, co-convener of the meeting and DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said, adding that the issue of pensions paid to retired teachers working part-time requires further discussion.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
RSS