Office head transferred after supporting old civil pension system

The Chief Secretary of the Civil Service Ethics Office (CSEO) under the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Lee Lai-hsi (李來希) was transferred to another director position within the CLA. When asked if he thought it was because of his recent candid statements over civil servants' rights, he answered, “could be, could not be.”

Although he did not admit nor deny if the transfer was related to the recent pension reform for civil servants, Lee posted on his Facebook: “Peace Struggling is Beginning!” Lee posted that he was ready for a war of rhetoric, indicating that he would still battle for workers' rights.

“Civil servants, take up your pen and start writing,” he posted. “What's to be afraid of? This is a peaceful struggle, without the use of any knives or guns. Use the power of your voice and writing and your votes.”

In recent discussions over the pension reforms of civil servants, Lee had accused the government of conducting a political conspiracy to create social discord among laborers and civil servants. He had insisted that raising employers' required monthly deposit amount for workers' retirement to 8 percent would achieve the goal of raising laborers' pension funds.

Instead, the government chose to lower civil servants' benefits, to shorten the difference between civil servants and laborers, he said. Currently employers' are required to deposit 6 percent of a worker's monthly wages for retirement.

As for the CLA's response, Minister Pan Shih-wei (潘世偉) stressed that in late December of 2012, he had discussed with the premier how to go about reshuffling some head positions of the CLA. Pan had said that nearly 10 top posts were transferred to other places, not just Lee. “Lee is just one of 10,” Pan said. He also mentioned that Lee's salary did not differ from that of his previous post. “How could this be a sort of government pressure?” he asked.

Deputy Secretary of the CSEO Yeh Jen-chen (葉仁成) commented that the transfer of Lee was an inappropriate act by higher-level officials. If it is because Lee criticized Examination Yuan Minister Kuan Chung, Yeh said, then it would have violated the civil service association law and measures will be taken.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	'Asia's Nobel Prize' award launched by local tycoon

NEXT ARTICLE
Ex-VP Lu backs Su on timing of anti-nuclear referendum

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit