Facing accusations that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) poor performance in the overall popular vote in Saturday’s special municipality elections was the result of discontented public employees, Personnel Administration Minister Wu Tai-cheng (吳泰成) yesterday said the government was giving serious thought to increasing the pay of government employees or their year-end bonus in light of the economic recovery.
“A [3 percent] pay raise is a possibility, while increasing year-end bonuses [by half a month] is also possible,” Wu told KMT lawmakers at a Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting.
RECONSIDER
Wu’s remarks came as KMT Legislators Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) and Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) pressed him to reconsider a plan to give civil servants a pay raise, which was rejected by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) in August when the Cabinet drew up its budget statement for the next fiscal year.
Since the Civil Servants Retirement Act (公務人員退休法) was revised to retrench government spending on welfare benefits for civil servants, regulations were more stringent than those implemented by the previous Democratic Progressive Party administration, Tsao said.
RETAIN THE BASE
“How can civil servants support the KMT under the circumstances? Only by ensuring benefits for civil servants can the KMT retain its base,” Tsao said.
Pan said one of the main reasons why the KMT did not perform well in Saturday’s election, despite optimistic economic indicators that signaled an economic recovery, was that people did not see any increase in their paychecks as commodity prices continued to rise.
Wu Tai-cheng said the government was exploring the possibility of rewarding civil servants for their contributions to the country and economic development.
SIX YEARS
The government has not raised pay for civil servants in six years.
In August, Wu Den-yih tentatively decided that civil servant pay would remain stable next year, saying that implementing the pay raise proposal was contingent on whether the government could sustain economic growth and improve its financial situation, a decision he said would be made at the end of this year.
Late last month, Taipei requested a purchase deferral on two advanced weapons systems, already under contract from the US, to save money after two years of budget shortfalls. Making the announcement, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) had said the delays were caused by a military budget shortfall and the nation’s financial difficulties.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
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