‘Proposed pension increases greed’

LEADER of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah has called for the cessation and withdrawal of the proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the increase in pension for public officials.

Abdulah said it is wrong, self-seeking, selfish and almost greedy for government, both morally and in terms of a proper understanding of pensions, to seek to change pension arrangements to benefit select public officials in this way.

He said pensions are calculated based on basic wage and salary and to include housing and any other kind of allowances is to distort totally the principles upon which pensions are calculated.

Abdulah said if successful, this could set a precedent for trade unions to negotiate for similar benefits for workers, which could threaten the viability of pension plans, causing some to go bankrupt. At a news conference at the party’s St Joseph headquarters on Wednesday, Abdulah said , “It is self-seeking and selfish, at a time when government daily paid workers get no pension, even though they were promised years ago, when persons are trying to survive on NIS or old age pension, when workers have not had an increase in minimum wages for years, when other workers have not been getting any wage increases and are struggling to survive day to day.”

Responding to the argument that government is seeking the interest of members of the judiciary, Abdulah suggested that AG Faris Al-Rawi and the prime minister should review the report submitted by the committee established by the Law Association and implement its recommendations to ensure the best judges are recruited and retained.

He accused government of misleading the population by lumping six different laws into the Miscellaneous Provisions (Tax, Amnesty, Pensions, Freedom of Information, National Insurance, Central Bank and Non-Profit Organisations) Bill 2019, saying this could hide the real implications from citizens.