OWTU protests outside Republic Bank

Petrotrin retirees and members of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) protested together outside Republic Bank's branch at Park Street, Port of Spain, yesterday, demanding access to their pension and medical benefits, which they claim they have not received.

Speaking with Newsday, retiree Stephen Tang said pensioners were languishing as they have not had access to their money in months anddespite repeated reassurances from the government both in and out of Parliament, they still did not have their money.

Republic Bank Ltd are the trustees of the Petrotrin Em­ploy­ee Pen­sion Plan (PEPP).

"It's a matter of life or death at this point, because there are pensioners here that need their medication, and we can't access it. This is money that we worked for and we still can't see any of it, and at this point we would like to know exactly when we can access it. We will not be slowing down until we receive what is owed to us," Tang said.

While the pensioners protested on Park Street, members of OWTU met with senior staff from the bank to discuss the distribution of the PEPP.

Last Thursday it was reported that Petrotrin had arranged for payments to be made for pensioners.

Newsday sent an e-mail to Republic Bank Ltd's corporate communications department for confirmation of the outcome of the meeting but had received no reply up until press time.