Chapter 23 Chapter 21 "Lifetime Remuneration System" Creates New Injustice

The proliferation of lifelong tenure for public officials has caused serious social injustice and negatively affected the party's style of work and social atmosphere. A few days ago, a reporter received a business card from a staff member of a certain agency in Beijing. He did not have any leadership position, but it was marked with the words "Enjoy deputy bureau level treatment" after his name.According to insiders, this staff member was originally the deputy director of the unit, but was dismissed for some reason, but still enjoys the same level of treatment as when he was in office.

The reporter's investigation found that in many places in our country, it is still quite common for some public officials, especially leading cadres, to "get up but not down" in terms of remuneration. Increasingly, it has gradually become a special treatment that alienates the public from officials, creating new social injustice. Relevant experts believe that we must be vigilant against the danger of lifelong system of public servants' treatment. In addition to giving special treatment to veteran comrades who participated in revolutionary work before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state should deepen the reform of the personnel system of public officials as soon as possible, and transfer relevant funds from such "treatments" Transfer to solve more people's livelihood problems.

The so-called lifelong system of remuneration for public officials refers to the public officials in state organs, people's organizations, state-owned enterprises and institutions who are engaged in public service according to law.Among them are not only wages and benefits, but also benefits, health care, medical treatment, transportation, housing and many other benefits. It is understood that there are profound social backgrounds and historical reasons for the generation of tenure system for the treatment of public officials.At first, it was just a kind of care for the old cadres who participated in the revolutionary work before the founding of New China.According to relevant state documents, veteran cadres who participated in revolutionary work before September 30, 1949 and have corresponding ranks can retire, and those who participated in work after that are retired.Retirement and retirement benefits are different. Retirement benefits are based on the principle of "basic political benefits remain unchanged, and living benefits are slightly more favorable", which is higher than retirement benefits.In addition to the original salary, the retirees also enjoy the political treatment, medical care, subsidies, car use, etc. when they were in office, and the rank of cadres is raised.

At present, the lifelong system of remuneration for public officials seems to have become a "national condition" with Chinese characteristics. Some cadres who started working after the founding of the People's Republic of China are also enjoying similar special treatment.Although in August 2006 the central government promulgated the "Interim Provisions on the Term of Office of Party and Government Leading Cadres", which completely abolished the life tenure of leading cadres.But the fact is that the abolition of tenure of power does not mean the abolition of tenure of treatment.

In some newspapers and documents, the reporter can often see that there is a bracket after the name of XX, which says "enjoy XX-level treatment", from the lowest "deputy department level" to "deputy army level" " There are all kinds of "ministerial level" and so on, which are jokingly called "bracket treatment" by the common people.Of course, these levels are by no means just written in newspapers and documents, but a real and lifelong treatment. "The main feature of the tenure system for public officials is that they enjoy their treatment when they are not in their position, and they are low-ranking and high-ranking." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, said in an interview with reporters, "The tenure system for public officials is a historical product. At first, it was limited to senior party and government cadres in government agencies, but later the scope was gradually expanded to schools, scientific research institutions, central enterprises and other fields, and the job levels continued to spread. What's more, in order to encourage public officials to leave the government agencies, many places For those public officials who have entered the sea to do business and no longer hold their current positions, they still enjoy the treatment of their original ranks."

"With the institutional reform, some cities, institutions, departments, and universities have been continuously upgraded or merged, and the number of people enjoying this treatment is still increasing." A professor specializing in administration at Renmin University of China told reporters. "Some people who joined the work after the founding of the People's Republic of China, just because they were leaders, the treatment they enjoy after retirement is also enviable." A nurse working in the high-level cadre ward of Peking Union Medical College Hospital told reporters, "Some of my patients are paid every month. The expenses are tens of thousands of yuan, and they have to take care of some minor illnesses, and even have a special car and a driver to deliver meals every day."

In 1985, our country began to implement wage reforms in government agencies and institutions, and implemented a structural wage system with job wages as the main content. In 1993, the "Interim Regulations on National Civil Servants" restored the level setting. The level of national civil servants is divided into 15 levels. There are 10 levels of leadership positions ranging from prime minister to deputy section chief, and 8 levels of non-leadership positions ranging from inspectors to clerks.Among them, there are clear regulations on the corresponding relationship between the positions and levels of leading cadres.

It is understood that there are relatively clear regulations on "in" in the relevant laws and regulations of civil servants, but insufficient attention is paid to "exit".Therefore, the lifelong system of treatment for public officials has become an "unspoken rule" in some places. This practice of separating positions from ranks and breaking the sequence of administrative ranks has no legal basis. First, increase the financial burden on the country. "In many places, the management and use of public servants is 'higher than low', and 'low-ranking high-ranking' is used as an incentive for public officials. On the surface, it is a reform of the personnel system of public officials, but in fact it is a retrogression "A young civil servant surnamed Zhang from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance said, "Because of the separation of positions and ranks, a disguised way to improve remuneration was opened, at least wages, rewards, benefits, car subsidies, etc., which increased the burden on taxpayers. burden."

Second, it creates obvious social injustice. "This kind of life tenure for public officials is unfair to others." Xiao Zhang, an ordinary employee of Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Branch, expressed her opinion to the reporter, "For example, some leaders of central enterprises are still in office after retirement. It is really unreasonable to enjoy the treatment at the administrative level at that time, while the ordinary employees enjoy the retirement treatment.” "In our school, teachers are paid according to the position. That is to say, even if you have a professor title, if the school does not have a professor position and hires you as a lecturer, you can only enjoy the treatment of a lecturer. And administrative leaders do not Similarly, if you used to be a division chief, you can still enjoy the treatment at the division level if you come down to work as a general administrative staff.” A teacher surnamed Wang from a university in Beijing reported to the reporter, “This phenomenon is relatively common in universities in Beijing. In fact, it caused unfairness, and the teachers also had great opinions on this.”

"The life tenure of public officials is obviously unfair, and it violates the provisions of the Constitution on equal rights for citizens and the principle of distribution of civil servants according to work in the Civil Servant Law." Du Liyuan, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm, said, "The salary system for civil servants is fully implemented. Based on the principle of distribution according to work, wages and benefits should fully reflect factors such as job responsibilities, work ability, work performance, and seniority, and a reasonable wage gap between different positions, levels, and statuses should be maintained. Therefore, people who are not at the same level but enjoy the same level of treatment , and there is no legal basis for keeping the wages of retired civil servants at the same level as that of serving civil servants.”

In the random survey conducted by reporters, more than 90% of the interviewees agreed that they should be in their positions, take their responsibilities, and enjoy the corresponding treatment. If they are not in their positions, they should no longer enjoy their treatment. "Although I am the beneficiary, I also think that the life-long tenure of public officials is unfair and should be reformed." A cadre of an agency in Beijing told reporters frankly, "There are several investigators like me in our unit, and there are usually no problems. Doing things well, but getting paid more than young people, of course, it also aroused some people's private discussions." "It is a proper organizational principle for public officials to be able to go up and down, and 'low-ranking and high-ranking' leads to a disconnect from the common people." Professor Li Mingwei of the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology was interviewed by reporters. Citizens”, which will have an inestimable negative impact on the realization of social fairness and justice. Third, it strengthened the consciousness of "official standard" in the whole society.The ability to go up or down the administrative level has virtually strengthened the "consciousness of chasing officials" in the whole society, strengthened the "official standard", and also formed an institutional obstacle to the construction of the cadre team's work style. The number of applicants for civil servants in central state organs is increasing sharply every year.It is understood that as of October 24, 2006, more than 600,000 people have applied for and passed the examination of civil servants in central state organs, and the supply-demand ratio of the most competitive positions has hit a record high of 1:4407. "My ideal is to be a civil servant. Not only does my job have a stable job, but if I can have a part-time job in the official career, like many officials now, I can get a good salary when I retire." A former Beijing Institute of Technology A student who took the civil service exam told reporters, "Many of my classmates have this idea." The majority of people interviewed believe that the life tenure of public servants should be abolished.This will have a far-reaching social impact on improving the party's ability to govern and improving the relationship between the party, the government and the people. "With the development and progress of society and the improvement of my country's social health care, insurance and service mechanisms, it will be an inevitable trend to abolish the lifelong system of public servants' benefits." Li Chengyan said, "my country can learn from some successful experiences abroad and combine Establish a scientific management system for the treatment of public servants according to the national conditions.” "The pensions of public officials in various countries vary according to the national conditions of each country, but in general the composition of the benefits is more diversified, and it is also more favorable than that of corporate employees, which fundamentally stabilizes the team of public officials." Li Chengyan introduced, "The usual practice in these countries It is to establish a supplementary pension insurance plan in addition to the pension insurance benefits shared by the whole people." The reporter learned that some developed countries do not separately legislate pension plans for retired public officials, but incorporate them into a unified national system.For example, the pension insurance for civil servants in the United States has been legislated separately in the past, and a new retirement system was implemented in 1987. The new system stipulates that the retirement benefits of new civil servants include three items: national social insurance allowances, basic allowances and personal savings plans, the first of which is incorporated into the entire National Insurance System.Singapore's civil servants implemented a pension system before April 1986, but after that, except for a few categories of personnel, newly hired civil servants were all included in the same central provident fund system as employees. "Abolishing the lifelong system of public servants' treatment cannot be 'one size fits all', and should gradually solve historical problems according to national conditions." An expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who did not want to be named, believes that the treatment of veteran cadres who participated in revolutionary work before liberation should remain unchanged; For those who have worked after liberation and have retired, and those who have not retired but are over 55 years old, in addition to guaranteeing their in-service salary and treatment according to the policy, other benefits can be stipulated in a simplified manner; for public officials under the age of 55, they should not Enjoy other treatment besides salary. "A retirement provident fund system can be implemented, that is, a certain percentage of provident fund is withdrawn from the salary of civil servants every month, and the same amount is supplemented by the state as retirement provident fund." "Simply abolishing the lifelong system of remuneration for public servants may also have negative effects." In this regard, Du Liyuan suggested, "In order to avoid this from happening, we can replace the lifelong system of remuneration for public servants with a clean government reward system to ensure that their living standards after retirement are not as good as Decrease before retirement. The standard of reward is not only linked to the level before retirement, but also linked to political performance.” "This will not only avoid the negative problems that may be brought about by the abolition of life tenure for high-level public officials, but also help promote honest and diligent government officials when they are in office." Du Liyuan said, "This system must be implemented through careful and scientific legislation. Guaranteed to complete." Regarding the lifelong tenure system for administrative personnel, Associate Professor Yang Zhonghong of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology said: "Government agencies and related enterprises and institutions should ensure that administrative personnel are on corresponding positions and perform corresponding duties. Level of treatment. Once the position is reduced or increased, the level and treatment will also be reduced or increased accordingly, so that not only the administrative position can be up and down, but also the corresponding administrative level treatment can be up and down.”