The umbrella body for trade unions in Barbados has advised Government against rushing to make any unilateral decision to increase the retirement age as part of its response to the critical state of the country’s National Insurance Fund.
What the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) wants, however, is to see a full investigation into the state of the $4 billion National Insurance Fund and to hear from the Board how the Fund had reached such an “alarming and disturbing” state that it could be depleted by 2034.
It was earlier this month that actuary with the National Insurance Board, Derek Osborne disclosed that the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) must be urgently reformed to ensure the Fund is not depleted in the next 12 to 15 years. Increasing the retirement age from 67 was among the suggestions advanced to prevent such a scenario.
“CTUSAB cautions against any hasty and unilateral decision on a change to the national retirement age,” the organisation’s General Secretary Dennis de Peiza said in a media statement on Tuesday. “It is proposed that any change is, first, the subject of national discourse.”
“The Congress contends that there is a need for full accountability to be given by the Board for the current state of the NIS Fund. It is to be understood that this is an important step in the process towards ensuring that there is transparency and accountability, in this matter of such high national importance,” de Peiza added.
He asserted that the findings in the recently released Actuarial Report on the state of the National Insurance Fund raised fundamental questions about the management of the Fund.
Osborne had explained that the Fund being depleted did not mean NIS would no longer exist, but that it would need to find additional funds “because there is no longer any savings which you can deplete to meet immediate benefits”.
Against that background, de Peiza said the projected precarious state of the Fund raised legitimate concerns about its ability to meet future obligations to Barbadian workers without reservation. He insisted that answers were needed.
“The millions of dollars invested for which there will apparently be no returns represents a painful and agonising blow to the psyche, social and economic well-being of Barbadian workers, as the depletion of the fund can compromise payments due in the medium and long term,” he said.
“CTUSAB believes that following a full investigation, some measures should be identified for the purpose of working to recover those funds which can be retrieved.”
CTUSAB said the performance of the Fund can only be improved if the Government and the private sector work in earnest to ensure that new avenues of employment are created, in order to reabsorb the almost 30 000 now unemployed people back into the workforce.
Stressing that the NIS Board was established as tripartite in nature, with representatives from Government, labour and the private sector appointed, CTUSAB maintained that the construct of the Board in this way was for the expressed purpose of ensuring its independence in its functioning, decision-making, and management of the NIS Fund.
“It is for the politicians to recognise that the NIS Funds are the property of the workers and employers and not those of the state. Government is therefore strongly advised that the Board needs to be allowed to function and pursue its mandate of investment and management of the Fund, without political interference,” de Peiza added. (PR/BT)
