GTC/GT&T pensioners plight to engage Parliament

May 20, 2014 News

The plight of several pensioners in a struggle to receive their benefits from the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) will be engaging the attention of Parliament when it meets tomorrow.
A petition is being brought to the House by Alliance for Change’s (AFC) Trevor Williams, on behalf of the retired employees of the Guyana Telecommunications Corporation and active servants of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (GPWU).
The petition is requesting that the former employees of the Guyana Telecommunication Corporation who continued in service with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company and retired, be paid their just and due pension in accordance with the Pensions Act as enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana.
The petition is also for the Minister of Finance to state the reason preventing the responsible agency from affecting payment of the correct pension that is just and due to pensioners, and when the payment to the pensioners will be effected.
NICIL is the responsible agency given that prior to the sale of the shares in assets the Government’s holding company was responsible for oversight of the Government’s interests.
In December last the pensioners began staging picketing exercises at the Office of the President.
They were seeking to bring attention to the dilemma of their unpaid pensions.
The seniors braved the sun to express their discontent with the manner in which the current Administration is treating their due payments. The pensioners are owed millions of dollars in unpaid retirement fees over a 20-year period and have argued that the current government is making no meaningful attempt to address the issue.
Former GT&T maintenance manager, Lennox Skeete, at the time had old Kaieteur News that the pensioners are further advancing their cause, and are seeking redress to the present situation.
Skeete said that while the pensioners would not have chosen to protest, they were pushed in this direction because of the lack of acknowledgement of their plight.
“This is the only option we have now; to picket, we have been pushed, not that we wanted a confrontation, but this is the way we have to go.”
It was noted further that on average, more than 30 years of service have been given to the telecoms industry. “Some of us have a maximum of 47 years, receiving a measly pension of $18,000 per month.”
Former GT&T personnel manager Clifford Blackett at the time had said that yesterday’s event will go down in history.
The pensioner said, “Let it be a lesson to the young workers of Guyana that they take this as a living example that when they become of age, they do not have to stand in a picket line to fight for what is constitutionally theirs.”
From cleaners to managers are receiving $18,000 monthly when, “a technician should have been receiving a monthly pension of at least $50,000, while a former manager should have been the recipient of way over $100,000 per month.”
The pensioners said their unpaid pension is an issue from the early 90’s and charged that the matter is showing more than ever a case of discriminated.
Over two dozen pensioners have died without ever receiving their due pensions.

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GTC/GT&T pensioners plight to engage Parliament

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