By Anesta Henry
A proposed march to oppose the Government’s plans to raise the retirement age and the required contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) will not be held on Saturday, its organiser said Friday.
But plans are afoot for Barbadians to take to the streets of The City next weekend, General Secretary of the Unity Workers Union (UWU), Caswell Franklyn, told Barbados TODAY.
The union boss said that an application was submitted to the Police Service requesting permission to hold a march on Saturday, but the police asked that the date be changed to accommodate the series of scheduled national activities in the climax of the Crop Over festival.
“We were asked to change the date because this weekend is going to be a stretch for the police,” said Franklyn. “This is the Crop Over weekend, and everything is going on. So we, the organisers, agreed with the police that this weekend is going to be difficult to have the march, so we will do it next weekend.
“The police did not refuse us, they just asked if we would push back the date, and we willingly agreed. The march has not been called off, it would just have been an inconvenience to put the police under that kind of stress.”
Franklyn said the planned march was being organized by his UWU and other interested parties and would enable participants to express their grievances openly.
As a form of protest, several workers participated in a sick-out on Thursday. On that same day, the Senate delayed the debate on the National Insurance and Social Security Amendment Bill to amend the pensionable age.
Last Friday, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan announced a recommended one-year rise of the pensionable age in two increments.”
In his ministerial statement on the revitalization of the National Insurance Scheme, Jordan said it was recommended that in 2028 the pensionable age would become 67.5 years, and in 2034, the age will rise to 68.
Franklyn, who facilitated several webinars to discuss the announcement which sparked national debate, indicated that the protest against the Government’s proposed action was necessary because Barbadians need to stand up for their rights.
He said: “If they don’t, it would be to their own detriment. We are actually asking people to stand up for themselves to protect their hard-earned benefits that the Government is trying to take away from them.
“You have taken money from workers and held it on trust for them, and then as trustee, you use the money, and now that you have used the money, you are asking the same people that put in the money already to come and put it back in again, and that is wrong.” (AH)
