The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lobbied its People First Party (PFP) colleagues to support a petition calling for a constitutional interpretation of the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法).
KMT caucus convener Lin Te-fu (林德福) praised the PFP caucus for proposing on Monday its own signature drive for a constitutional interpretation of articles governing civil servants whose work involves vocational hazards, such as police officers and firefighters.
The PFP caucus should support the KMT caucus’ petition so that civil servants and public-school teachers could have a chance to defend their rights, he said.
The act puts police officers’ and firefighters’ retirement age at 55, 10 years earlier than other civil servants, with an article stipulating that the pensions due to those seeking early retirement should be reduced by 4 percent — with a 20 percent cap — for every year they fall short of the legal retirement age.
The PFP proposal states that the rule on deducting the pensions of police’ and firefighters’ pensions who retire early should be abolished because of the hazardous nature of their work.
Appeals in the PFP’s proposal are covered by the KMT’s proposal, Lin said, calling for collaboration between the two parties to pass the hurdle for legislators to request the Council of Grand Justices review a law.
Under existing rules, a constitutional interpretation case is opened after a proposal gains the support of at least one-third of legislators in a signature drive.
The KMT has 34 of the 113 legislative seats, while the PFP has three.
The PFP caucus last month declined to sign the KMT’s proposal for a constitutional interpretation, saying that it was drafted by National Civil Servant Association president Harry Lee (李來希) instead of the KMT, and that no KMT lawmakers signed it, KMT caucus vice secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said.
The KMT caucus has decided to back Lee’s version, the details of which were still being discussed at the time the proposal was shown to the PFP, she said.
All KMT legislators have now signed Lee’s version, which calls for the six-year time frame set for eliminating the 18 percent preferential savings interest rate given to by public-sector workers hired before 1995 be prolonged, Lee said.
It also calls for incumbent civil servants to be exempted from the lowering of income replacement ceiling from 75 percent to 60 percent over 10 years after the act’s promulgation on July 1 next year, she said.
However, New Power Party caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the KMT and PFP signature drives not necessary.
“The act already differentiates rules on police officers’ and firefighters’ retirement by allowing them to retire earlier than other categories of civil servants,” Hsu said.
“The reason behind the KMT’s request for a constitutional interpretation is that the new rules should not run counter to legitimate expectations to affect current civil servants, but it has already been established that the rules do not constitute a breach of legitimate expectation and therefore are not unconstitutional,” Hsu added.
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