The legislature is to discuss military pay raises next week, after discussions yesterday reached a standstill due to competing proposals from the two opposition parties.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday filed a motion to review the amendments to the Armed Forces Wages Act (軍人待遇條例), with the KMT saying that it wanted to further discuss details of the proposed amendments, and the TPP wishing to amend the sum raised.
The KMT version would increase the payout to volunteer forces to NT$30,000 per month while stating that wages for compulsory servicemen should not be lower than the minimum wage, citing, for example, the wages for privates, which would be raised from NT$21,350 per month to NT$28,590.
Photo: Liu Yu-chieh, Taipei Times
TPP caucus deputy convener Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said that the party shared the goal of the KMT in raising military wages, citing the dangers that military personnel face.
However, the TPP caucus had differing opinions on the amounts to be adjusted, Chang said.
According to a source within the legislature, the TPP had proposed the review due to discontent over a KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agreement on Wednesday to temporarily set aside the TPP proposal.
The source said that the KMT had proposed debating the issue on Tuesday next week after discovering that some of its legislators were on an official trip to Guam.
KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said that the KMT had planned to propose the delay in the morning due to the caucus wishing to further discuss the issue, but the motion was delayed until the afternoon.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) told reporters before the meeting yesterday that the caucus negotiations had initially agreed to discuss articles 2, 5 and 6 of the payment act during the morning sitting.
The DPP could do nothing after KMT Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) announced a recess, as it does not hold a legislative majority, she said.
The DPP had mobilized its legislators to vote on the issue and hoped to demonstrate to the public how some of the amendments were unconstitutional and lacked fiscal discipline, but the DPP regrets that it lacked the legislative majority to ensure that specific issues were discussed, she said.
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