The Ministry of Education has failed to follow through on its promise that temporary teachers would receive summer pay, union activists said yesterday, promising legal action against local governments for refusing to accept subsidy payments intended to cover the teachers’ extra months of pay.
“Even though the K-12 Education Administration has offered to cover an entire year’s worth of salary for some teachers, most local governments have rejected the offer and returned the extra money to avoid having two different pay levels for temporary teachers,” National Federation of Teachers’ Unions president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said, vowing to call for mediation and arbitration with the offending local governments.
According to the union’s figures, only Yunlin County provides a full year’s salary to temporary teachers, while Kaohsiung and Chiayi City provide a full year’s salary for temporary teachers covered by administration subsidies.
All other local governments withhold one or two months of salary from temporary teachers over the summer months, even if they are rehired, the union said.
The percentage of teachers on temporary contracts has been steadily increasing to guarantee hiring flexibility as the nation copes with falling student numbers, Chang said, adding that the teachers are still required to meet licensing requirements and perform work largely identical to permanent teachers.
“They aren’t paid a salary during the summer months, even though they still have to prepare classes, complete coursework and do training just like regular teachers, and schools sometimes call them in to help with special events,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said that local governments should not use a lack of funding as an excuse for not paying teachers during the summer given the dramatic increase in central government subsidies for temporary teachers’ salaries, funding which he said increased from NT$773.5 million (US$25.7 million) in 2015 to NT$4.1 billion this year.
“Central government subsidies as a proportion of the temporary teachers’ salaries has increased from less than 7 percent to more than 32 percent, so the reality is that the financial burden on local governments has been progressively lightened,” Chang Liao said.
In response, K-12 Education Administration division head Wu Hsiao-hsia (武曉霞) said that while hiring regulations for temporary teachers are set by the ministry, there are no rules governing the periods for which they should be paid.
She that the agency has held numerous meetings with local governments and reached an agreement on plans to move in the direction of offering full-year salaries to temporary teachers, adding that it would continue to provide subsidies to help lead local governments in that direction.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS