A new baseline pension should be passed to guarantee the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups, rights advocates said yesterday, as the Legislative Yuan prepares to begin an extraordinary session next week to address pension reform.
More than 20 people from civic groups such as the Awakening Foundation and Taiwan Higher Education Union gathered outside the side gates of the legislative compound, calling for retirement guarantees and the realization of redistributive justice.
“The current pension system is mainly built on the premise that people will be employed, and receive promotions and wage increases until they retire. However, that premise is male-oriented and ignores the fact that women often have gaps in their employment, because they are forced to act as caregivers to children, older people and disabled people,” Awakening Foundation secretary-general Chyn Yu-rong (覃玉蓉) said.
Women on average receive only 66 to 88 percent of the national labor insurance payments men receive upon retirement, depending on the payment system used, Chyn said.
The national labor insurance is divided into “old” and “new” systems, with workers using the “old system” allowed to withdraw a lump sum upon retirement.
There needs to be a minimum monthly payment of NT$8,000 available to all citizens upon retirement to avoid replicating the inequities of the workplace, she said, blaming the prevalence of employment gaps among women on the government’s failure to establish public systems to care for children and older people.
“If we put all of the burden of providing for older people on individuals and families, where is the guaranteed economic security going to come from for disadvantaged groups like family caregivers, nontraditional labor, part-time workers, single parent families and those who become unemployed during middle age?” Awakening Foundation senior researcher Tseng Chao-yuan (曾昭媛) said, adding that statistics showed that 44.6 percent of female senior citizens receive their support mainly from their children and grandchildren.
More than 46 percent of retirees only receive a monthly pension from the National Pension Fund — which averages NT$3,791 — rather than the Labor Insurance Fund — which averages NT$16,179 — because they do not possess the necessary seniority in terms of years worked to be eligible for the more substantial payment, she said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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