The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might only be able to pay part of its workers’ salaries this month due to lackluster fundraising, according to high-ranking party officials.
The KMT has been dogged by a salary conundrum after its bank accounts were frozen as part of an ongoing investigation into the source of its assets by the Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, despite managing to pay off its staff’s overdue wages for September and last month using loans taken out by KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), with party officials acknowledging that they might only be able to pay half of this month’s salaries in a worst-case scenario.
Hung late last month borrowed NT$90 million (US$2.8 million at the current exchange rate) to pay workers’ salaries amid a threat by the KMT’s union to stage a protest should the party fail to address the issue.
The loans came from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co and Foxconn chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and another businessman, who asked to remain anonymous.
The KMT last month launched two fundraising programs in an attempt to assuage its financial straits, but a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the amount has raised so far has fallen far short of expectations.
One fundraising drive encourages KMT members to pay a “special party fee” of at least NT$2,000, while the other asks members of the public to donate NT$1,000.
The two programs have generated only NT$10 million and NT$20 million respectively, the source said.
Asked about the possibility of the KMT taking out more loans, one KMT member, who also requested anonymity, said borrowing money has always been a contentious issue in the party, particularly as it has yet to pay off the loans taken out by Hung.
KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) on Saturday said that the funds raised from the “special party fee” program are insufficient to pay about NT$45 million in party workers’ salaries for this month.
However, the party recently laid out a plan to reduce its workforce, which it sent to the committee with a request for access to a portion of the KMT’s frozen funds to be able to pay the reduced personnel, Chiu said.
The KMT recently also submitted to the Taipei Department of Labor an outline of its plans for employee dismissals, with negotiations with employees scheduled to begin on Wednesday, he added.
According to the plan, 433 staff, or about 58 percent, could face dismissal prior to the Lunar New Year, Chiu said, but added that the party would be unable to execute the plan unless it manages to come up with between NT$150 million and NT$180 million to cover severance payments and retirement packages.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS