Taiwanese Lawmaker Defends Pension Reform Amid 'Dual Salary' Controversy

Nationalist Party legislator Yeh Yu-lan has proposed amending pension laws to remove the "dual-salary fat cat" ban for retired military personnel, civil servants, and teachers. The proposed changes aim to delete Article 77 of the "Regulations Governing Retirement, Severance, and Pensions for Public School Teachers and Civil Servants," which currently prohibits retirees receiving pensions from taking on new public sector roles without salary limitations.

“

Currently, schools cannot even find 'substitute teachers,' so how can we say this blocks the promotion of young people?

Yeh argues that the current restrictions exacerbate labor shortages in schools, making it difficult to find even substitute teachers. He also points out that retired military personnel are being excluded from school safety roles due to salary caps. Yeh stated that ministry heads previously agreed that relaxing these salary limits for retirees was a viable direction for consideration. He criticized Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wu Si-yao for misrepresenting his proposal as detrimental to younger generations and promoting "fat cats."

"Currently, schools cannot even find 'substitute teachers,' so how can we say this blocks the promotion of young people?" Yeh questioned. He also challenged Wu's confidence in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party administration, asking if she believed Premier Cho Jung-tai would lead the charge in creating "fat cats." Yeh suggested that if Wu is concerned about the DPP fostering "fat cats," she should join discussions to collaboratively draft reasonable salary ceilings. This, he proposed, would alleviate school labor shortages while also preventing the DPP from creating "fat cats," achieving a win-win situation.

“

If Wu is concerned about the DPP fostering 'fat cats,' she should join discussions to collaboratively draft reasonable salary ceilings.

Yeh urged Wu to focus on the real difficulties faced by grassroots schools rather than engaging in political maneuvering and distorting facts to antagonize military, civil servants, and teachers. He emphasized that his proposal aims to address the urgent need for personnel in schools, particularly in areas like teaching and campus safety, and that the current salary caps are hindering these efforts.

“

Please pay more attention to the real difficulties faced by grassroots schools, instead of always engaging in political manipulation and distorting facts to antagonize military, civil servants, and teachers.