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CCNTV6
  • 10 months ago
Former Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago workers are pleading with the company to increase their pensions now.

The say the matter is before the court and the company is being advantageous and unfair.

Nicole M Romany reports.
Transcript
00:00Former telco worker Ian Clark says TSTT is not a law unto themselves and cannot
00:07treat the pensioners this way. According to him the pension fund has a
00:12disposable surplus in TSTT in the millions and in telco the pension plan
00:18has a surplus of close to 1 billion dollars but the pensioners are not
00:23benefiting from it. He further notes that the company sought to have their case
00:28thrown out on a technicality but he is confident the attorneys for the
00:33pensioners will be successful. Clark says he wants social and economic justice as
00:40well as equity in the management of the assets of telco TSTT's pension plan.
00:46We are very clear that TSTT is not a law unto themselves and they will not be
00:52allowed to take control of the surplus, the disposable surplus of both the telco
01:01and TSTT pension plan with total disregard for the legitimate interests
01:06and rights of pensioners as recognized by the court I should add in how pension
01:12plan surpluses are utilized. Another former TSTT telco employee Anthony
01:19Zephyrin says the money the pensioners receive now is barely enough to survive.
01:24I would have spoken to at least three pensioners all of whom like I said is
01:32getting a pension from a plan that has all these surpluses and not getting any
01:40pensions over a thousand dollars. My concern and what some of them have been
01:48advised to do is to apply to the government for the difference because
01:55the government does offer some social guarantee of $3,000 to apply to
02:01government for the difference. Even so that is not enough money to make even a
02:10grocery bill. The pensioner tells TV6 they are suffering from various
02:14ailments and want health care givers to assist in their care. Zephyrin says it is
02:20a very serious challenge they are facing and they need their pensions raised by
02:25at least three percent. These matters in the High Court do take a lot of time.
02:31Time which we as pensioners do not have. We are a dying breed and that can
02:40extend our life on this earth at this point in time. That is my appeal to the
02:46company. Yes. They say there are over 1,000 pensioners hoping to get an
02:51increase from the company. Nicole M Romany TV6 News
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