Teachers call for debate on pension reform

BANKRUPT:Proposed reforms would force civil servants to bear the responsibility for the government’s poor utilization of employees’ pension contribution, teachers said

By Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

National Federation of Teachers’ Unions members gather outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei to call on the government to hold a debate on reforming the civil servant pension system.

Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times

The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions yesterday accused the government of trying to shift the responsibility for preventing civil servants’ pension system from going bankrupt to public employees and challenged President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to a public debate on pension reform.

The government is the employer of civil servants, but the policies it has proposed to save the pension system from bankruptcy are an attempt to shirk responsibility for its poor investment decisions and utilization of civil servants’ premiums, federation secretary-general Lo Te-shui (羅德水) told a news conference in Taipei.

The policies, which include raising the civil servant insurance premium, cutting the size of their pensions and setting the age public school teachers can start receiving pensions at 60 — are unfair to younger teachers and would force older teachers to stay on their jobs, Lo said.

He added that the sum teachers and public schools are required to pay for civil servant insurance premiums has been insufficient, resulting in impending bankruptcies for the different pension systems.

Citing a survey by the group, which showed that a majority of parents do not want their children to be taught by older teachers, Lo urged the government to ensure that the turnover of teachers is not affected by the pension reform.

Under current rules, a public school teacher may retire after 25 years of service.

He compared Tsai’s pension reform policies with those of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), with both administrations claiming that they would be able to save the pension system from bankruptcy for 30 years.

“What about 30 years from now? What about civil servants that are just starting their careers?” Lo asked.

Quoting Pension Reform Committee deputy convener Lin Wan-i (林萬億), who said the pension system might need another reform in five to 10 years, Luo called on Lin to propose a policy now that would solve the problems of the next 10 years.

Federation president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said Tsai’s reform policies might seem substantial, but they have failed to address two core issues: the sustainability of funds and the government’s responsibility as an employer.

He later led more than 20 representatives from several local teachers’ unions to the Presidential Office Building to submit a request for a public debate with committee members.

In response, the committee said that the sustainability of the pension system cannot be achieved by a single policy, because the system is complex and nuanced in terms of the size and funding of pensions that different types of civil servants receive.

The federation should not accuse the government of negligence just because it did not comply with the union’s demand that active civil servants pay a fee to make up for the insufficiencies in the premiums they had paid, it said.

The committee said it has accepted the group’s suggestion that rules governing the pensions of elementary-school teachers, university teachers and other civil servants’ be revised separately, adding that rules on elementary-school teachers’ pensions would be implemented gradually to avoid affecting the turnover of teaching staff.

The committee said it welcomes all civic groups’ input on pension reform, but that it would be difficult to engage in a one-on-one debate with individual groups.