Teachers, civil servants and military personnel will not receive a pay raise this year.
Chou Hung-hsien (
These included the consumer price index, pay-scale adjustments in the private and public sectors, the financial condition of the government, as well as inflation and economic growth rates.
Teachers, civil servants and military personnel have had their salaries increased twice over the past seven years. They received a 3 percent increase in 2005 following a 3 percent rise in 2001.
During the same period, salaries in the private sector rose on average by 4.6 percent.
Chou said the CPA would not know whether the government will adjust the pay-scale next year until the summer, when the government's budget estimates for next year will be ready.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
Meanwhile, next year's Lunar Near Year vacation will run from Feb. 6 to Feb. 11, totaling six days Chou revealed.
Chou disclosed the news in response to a query from DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (
Huang asked Chou whether his administration would establish a system to decide whether to extend national holidays in future.
Chou said they had adopted a set of consistent principles following public outcry over the ministry’s last-minute announcement of an extended vacation for the last Lunar New Year and Moon Festival.
The ministry came under fire after it decided to add one extra day to the Mid-Autumn Festival to turn the vacation into a long weekend so it could connect with the Double Ten National Day, which fell on the following Tuesday. The announcement, however, came 10 days before the holiday break.
Some people believed the decision was a political maneuver aimed at foiling a nationwide strike organized by the campaign to oust President Chen Shui-bian (
Chou later apologized for inconveniencing the public and promised to plan more efficiently next year.
The Ministry of the Interior has also proposed a revision of the Measure Regarding Memorial Days and Festivals (
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS