…protest lurks if matter not resolvedFed up with waiting and given the royal run around by officials both in the previous Jagdeo administration and the current, a group of retired employees from the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) get monthly pensions that are unrealistic.And this pension is the same for the cleaners and retired managers—$18,000 a month. They are now contemplating street protests to force a resolution to their problem that dates back to 1991 when the Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC) was privatized.Donald Nurse, a 15-year Plant Manager is heading the group of retirees petitioning Government to settle their pension payments once and for all said that a meeting will be called tomorrow at the Guyana Postal and General Workers Union (GPTWU) Georgetown headquarters, in hopes that a favourable direction would be the outcome.The more than 130 pensioners are hoping that a massive protest will not be the result of unpaid benefits owed to them. In August last,Cheap NFL Jerseys, the retirees and their union held a meeting to discuss the issue.The former telecommunication workers said that years of negotiations with Government have proven to be “futile and a waste of time”.Nurse said that all categories of workers are currently earning the same pension. “From Manager to cleaner is receiving about $18,000 a month.” He added that instead of paying pensions on rates dating back to 1991, the Office of the President has proposed to do so from 2004; taking away13 years of earnings and large sums of money the pensioners worked for during both the time of the previous state-owned Guyana Telephone Company (GTC) and the GT&T, its successor.The issue had its origin following the privatization of the GTC in 1990.Workers who under the GTC would have retired at age 55 were asked to stay on the job with the company until the new pensionable age of 60. They were assured that their services would be treated as continuous and unbroken and the other conditions of service will not be less favourable than what they enjoyed.Based on the agreement for workers to stay on with the private company, it was understood that the former employees, upon retirement from GT&T, should have received their pension and gratuity from the present Government through the Ministry of Finance, in keeping with the Pension and Corporation Acts.Nurse presented a letter sent to the Ministry of Finance by the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) head, Winston Brassington, in early 2000s for the Ministry to pay off the workers.Nurse believes, however, that after tallying up the years of service and the money owed “it was probably felt to be a hefty sum to pay out,” and so the pension was never paid. It is estimated that the outstanding pension and gratuity benefits could be in excess of $20M.President of Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union, Harold Shepherd, said in August that, “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.”Nurse and a colleague James Kendall, are however of the view that the group is being discriminated against and is being treated with scant respect by authorities.Wednesday’s meeting follows the lobbying of two presidents, union leaders, the GT&T; opposition parliamentarians and others without success. At least two dozen former employees on the list to be paid have died without ever earning their just pensions. It is hoped that their spouses and children would benefit from payments if the case is settled anytime soon.Calls to the Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, went unanswered, while other officials were said to be unavailable for the day.
