Cabrera tells Govt to ignore World Bank

President of the Banking Insurance and General Workers’ Union, Vincent Cabrera, has called on Government and technocrats of the Ministry of Finance to ignore World Bank consultants. “Their agenda is really to ensure that developing economies fall in line with the philosophy and ideology of globalisation,” said Cabrera at a BIGWU education seminar last week. Delegates at the conference heard from Cabrera that pension funds represented the biggest chunk of investment funds in the world and the IMF knows now that the costs of privatised pension funds had climbed astronomically, providing lower benefits to retirees, particularly women.

Cabrera called on Government to remember that pension plans were all about providing social protection for working people. He said it was Government’s responsibility to make up for deficits in pension payments. Cabrera, who is also general secretary of  NATUC, said he will call on all workers to march against any adverse changes in pension plan legislation, and would not support any reduction of employer contribution to pension funds. “Government should use a tripartite approach in dealing with any changes that may be contemplated, as far as pension legislation is concerned,” said Cabrera.