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Budget for pay raise
approved
PAY DAY: The DPP caucus opposed the pay raise
proposal, saying the additional budget request was unlawful, a claim which a KMT
legislator rejected strongly
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Starting next month, a total of 125,000 government employees and some retired
civil servants will receive a 3 percent pay raise after the legislature approved
an additional budget of NT$10.82 billion (US$337 million) for the proposal
yesterday.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus failed in its motion to veto the
budget and in its demand for an extra budget to improve the food safety
management system following the recent food additive contamination scare.
Those covered by the pay raise include civil servants, school teachers, military
personnel and about 430,000 retired civil servants who had opted for monthly
pensions.
In a bid to avoid the perception that they had agreed to the proposal out of
their own interests, the lawmakers declined a pay raise for themselves from
between next month and December this year, saving the national treasury NT$3.98
million.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said his caucus opposed the pay raise proposal
because an additional budget to fund a pay raise for civil servants is not among
the purposes for a supplementary budget stipulated in the Budget Act (預算法).
“The money should be used to handle the aftermath of the -plasticizer
contamination of foods, for example to purchase testing equipment for
plasticizers and to provide health check-ups for pregnant women and young
people,” Gao said.
The last time public sector employees had a pay raise was in 2005.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fei (費鴻泰) dismissed concerns
that the budget request was not lawful and said that the pay raise proposal was
justifiable.
“Last year, GDP rose 10.82 percent, hitting a 24-year high. The economic fruits
shall be shared by the people. Raising salaries in the public sector would help
drive a rise in wages in the private sector,” Fei said.
The legislature yesterday also passed a budget request for NT$4.8 billion for
monthly pensions, which is to be distributed to more low-income households when
the lower poverty line in the Social Assistance Act (社會救助法) takes effect on July
1, as well as an extra budget request of NT$2.9 billion for tuition subsidies
for children under the age of five and senior high vocational school students
from economically disadvantaged families.
An amendment to the Parking Lot Act (停車場法) was also passed yesterday, which set
30 minutes as the unit of billing for roadside parking and off-street public
parking spaces.
Previously, the act did not specify a billing unit and charging -motorists by
the hour became a practice adopted by many parking lots that charge based on
length of time.
KMT Legislator Lin Chien-jung (林建榮), who initiated the amendment, said the
practice was unfair to those who need to park for just a few minutes.
The legislature yesterday also passed an amendment to the National Health
Insurance (NHI) Act (全民健康保險法) that would spare owners of fishing vessels who
hire less than 10 fishermen from joining the NHI system under the category of
employers, which would effectively save them about NT$100,000 annually in their
health premiums.
The Child Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照顧法) was also enacted yesterday to
coordinate the management of child daycare nurseries and kindergartens.
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