By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – A petition brought to the National Assembly on Wednesday, May 21 by Alliance For Change Parliamentarian Trevor Williams, calling for the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC) retirees to be paid their due pension was sent to a Special Select Committee where it will undergo further discussions and examination.
The petition was signed by several pensioners and observes that the payment was in keeping with the Pensions Act as enshrined in the constitution of Guyana.
The petition also calls on the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh to also state what is preventing the responsible agency from making the payment and to state when it would be made; while reiterating that it was just and due to the Pensioners.
A group of elderly former Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC) and GT&T workers were seated in the House while the petition was being read.
In recent times, there have been several protest action, including outside the Office of the President yesterday seeking to bring attention to the dilemma of their unpaid pensions.
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.
The Petition recalled that Winston Brassington, Executive Secretary and Head of the Privatization Unit had stated that the employees should have been paid their retirement benefits because it was monies already earned by them and should have been paid since 1991.
IT’S ABOUT BLOODY TIME. LET’S SEE HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE THEM TO MAKE A DECISION!