The National Teachers Associa-tion (NTA) yesterday called on the KMT caucus to press for legal revisions allowing them to form labor unions, while the Examina-tion Yuan pondered lowering interest rates on their savings.
Saying that all occupations should enjoy equal protection, the main opposition party promised to help.
Representatives from the NTA visited the KMT's legislative caucus yesterday morning to seek its support for amendments to labor rules that would permit teachers to organize labor unions. They are prohibited from doing so under existing codes.
NTA leader Liao Chun-jen (
Fellow petitioner Wu Chung-tai (吳忠泰) agreed, saying that the government failed to consult teachers before proposing scrapping the income tax exemption for soldiers and teachers.
To protest the planned policy change, tens of thousands of teachers are expected to take to the streets on Sept. 28 to mark Teacher's Day, Wu said.
KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chiao (
"It makes no sense to deny teachers the right to form labor unions when all other occupations are free to do so," Lee told the visitors.
Noting that the proposed restoration of income tax will have a severe impact on members of the armed forces and teachers, he said the KMT will not agree to cut the preferential interest rate on their savings.
Soldiers, teachers and government employees get a fixed interest rate of 18 percent on their savings. The average interest rate on savings for the rest of society is about 2 percent. It costs the government more than NT$40 billion a year in interest payments to these groups.
The TSU has made halving the privileged rate its top task for the next legislative session, arguing that the money should be used on more disadvantaged groups.
The Examination Yuan set up a panel yesterday afternoon to look into the matter.
Recently appointed Examination Yuan member Lee Ching-hsiung (
He observed that ensuing rises in their income have long rendered the privileged treatment unnecessary.
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
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
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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