School lunch caterers call for COVID relief measuresBy Hsieh Chun-ling / Staff reporterThe government should offer relief funds to school lunch caterers, whose businesses were disrupted by the Ministry of Education’s policy authorizing schools to switch to virtual classrooms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said yesterday. “As school lunch caterers, we must obtain special permission from schools to offer services and maintain high hygiene standards,” he said. This year, our collective business losses in April and May are expected to exceed NT$400 million [US$13.6 million].”School lunch caterers serve meals to 1.71 million pupils across the country daily, Chen said, adding that 10 large school lunch caterers have had to close down over the past two years because of inflation and the pandemic. Chen Hsi-hung (陳錫鴻), deputy director of student affairs and school security division at the ministry’s K-12 Administration, said that schools and school lunch caterers have contracts which stipulate that schools should compensate caterers for all additional costs incurred if they are not liable for the increase in costs. Schools can also extend their contracts with caterers, he said, adding that the ministry will help schools fulfill the terms of the contracts.

Source: Taipei Times June 07, 2022 02:33 UTC