The government's new pension plan for teachers, civil servants and military personnel met with resistance yesterday as an alliance of retired teachers and opposition legislators said they would file a request for a constitutional injunction against the plan today.
Yesterday marked the first day the new plan was put into effect. The alliance and legislators of the People First Party (PFP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), however, said they were determined to block the plan from being executed.
Administrative appeal
PHOTO: CNA
"We will submit a request for constitutional interpretation and ask the grand justices to issue an injunction against the plan," said PFP caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (
Lee Han-chung (
"This is just the first wave of administrative appeals, and more and more teachers will join the appeal," Lee said.
"If the administrative appeals and constitutional interpretation don't work, KMT and PFP legislators will then enact a new legislation to stop the plan," Huang said.
Trade-off
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
The new pension plan modifying the 18 percent preferential interest rate was regarded by the government as an important reform policy to redress the unfair system that benefited retired teachers, civil servants and military personnel at the expense of other groups.
The plan could affect 200,000 low-ranking teachers, civil servants and military personnel.
The government decided to carry out the new plan on the basis of the new regulations approved by the Examination Yuan.
The opposition charged, how-ever, that the government cannot implement a plan that affects people's interests without amending related legislation.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s