A plan by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to seek a constitutional interpretation of the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) is likely to fail because of a lack of support from other caucuses.
The KMT wants to ask the Council of Grand Justices to block the implementation of some parts of the act, which was passed yesterday, on the grounds of “legitimate expectations.”
The KMT needs one-third of the 113-seat Legislative Yuan, or 38 lawmakers, to support its request for the grand justices to accept the petition.
All but one of the 35 members of the KMT caucus have signed on. The absentee is Legislator Chien Tung-ming (簡東明), who was suspended after being found guilty of vote buying.
The KMT had counted on support from the three People First Party (PFP) lawmakers and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), but the PFP caucus said it has no intention of endorsing the proposal.
“The general perception is that the debt-ridden pension system needs to be reformed, and any constitutional interpretation should agree to follow that concept,” PFP caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said.
However, KMT caucus whip Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) said the KMT would continue to seek the PFP’s support.
Retired military personnel, public-school teachers and other former civil servants have staged several protests against the pension reform legislation since it was first introduced, saying that the government has violated their “legitimate expectations.”
They said that when they entered government service, they accepted working conditions that guaranteed them a stable life, but not one that provided a lucrative income.
Among the changes under the new law, pensions of civil servants are to be calculated based on their average monthly salary over their final 15 years of employment instead of their salary in their final month of employment as is the case at present.
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