Hello, nobody cares about Telco retirees

THE EDITOR: Who cares about Telco pensioners? Nobody, no union, no company executives, no government.

The union, CWU, representing the retirees/pensioners, looks out of depth in the question of negotiating to bring resolution and relief for the grandparents and great grandparents who make up the members.

The union is all bark no bite. Gross incompetence and delinquency with credibility issues.

The company is dangling a bone. Misleading the public.

The Government is sitting back and watching on, showing no interest in retirees’ well-being.

A company (Telco/TSTT) that came from Telco Poops to one of the most profitable and viable telecommunications companies in the Caribbean is treating its retirees with such disrespect and contempt.

In a pension fund with a surplus of approximately $1 billion, the company has agreed at committee level to three items to bring some relief to members. The agreement comes with conditions in the form of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) whereby the union, by signing this MOA, agrees to the payment of the three agreed items, which cost about $350 million, and must have no further discussion on the rest of the surplus. The union has not signed to this MOA.

This company has been ordered by the court to remove employees who it has placed illegally into the Telco pension plan and has failed to so do. Shameful!

Imagine a retiree in a pension plan with a surplus of $1 billion receiving an $800-a-month pension in 2022 with numerous health and financial challenges. How/why?

The Government, the majority shareholder of the company (51 per cent), is only interested in whether the company is "fit for purpose." There is no humane side to its approach. No intervention on behalf of retirees who might very well be PNM members.

It is time to rein in this disingenuous TSTT executive. Help Telco/TSTT pensioners now. Stop the barking, dangling and posturing. Telco retirees’ lives matter.

ANTHONY MARK

Telco retiree