Why Are Young Public School Teachers Not Satisfied with their Annuity Reform?

 Why Are Young Public School Teachers Not Satisfied with their Annuity Reform?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

May 3, 2017

 Translation of an Except

The annuity reforms program has entered a tug-of-war in the parliament. The Blue and Green camps have resorted to pushing and shoving matches several times; the public has not seen any rational debate. More noteworthy is that in recent days the crowds that have taken to the streets to protest against annuity reforms, besides retired military, public functionaries, and public school teachers, have added two different kinds of faces: one are young teachers, the other are labor groups. The former are dissatisfied that the government's annuity reforms will force school teachers under the new system to suffer "five cuts by knives," meaning 19 years later, it is possible that they won’t get any pension; the latter protest is about "struggling for a lifetime, we won’t even receive NT$10,000 a month in pension.”

The message conveyed to the outside world from these two voices is: although the pension reforms forcefully cut retired military, public functionaries, and public school teachers under the existing system, it has not made people of other generations and other professions feel that they will benefit; conversely, these people feel rather more pessimistic about a future of "paying more and receiving less." The government believes that waving the sword toward cutting retired military, public functionaries, and public school teachers would easily win acclaim of reform, but as a result of lacking overall consideration and its crude means, on the other hand, have elicited more dissatisfaction among the public.  

As the Tsai government pushes for annuity reforms, it did not take into consideration the generational differences of the new and old systems. Shouting in vain generational justice, it leads to even more tilting of justice; this is a serious error. The crux of the matter lies in the fact that those in charge sought accomplishments at a fast speed, not being able to consider priorities and the degree of importance, as well as the differences in the conditions of various groups, and making moves too cavalierly. If this question is not adjusted and revised in the process of legislative action, it will definitely impact the willingness of the younger generation to enter into the teaching profession and the public sector, with serious consequences. The number of students pursuing education programs in universities has recently shown a trend of great reduction; we cannot say that this is not a looming worry sowed by the annuity reforms.

If we have to say that annuity reforms have achieved something, in reality, it is opening the flood gates for public grievances. With crude means, government wanted to enjoy the benefits while sitting idly by, greatly reducing fiscal pressure, while with a simple turn it wanted to squander NT$ 880 billion. The protests of young teachers and labor groups, on the other hand, foretell a future of “poverty for all” in Taiwan.

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