Fed-up port pensioners protest

Pensioners from the Port Authority of TT yesterday said they were disappointed with the port management and Government’s handling of the outstanding pension, cost of living allowance and ex-gratia payments. Arrears are also owed from the ten percent deductions made in the salaries of public servants from 1988-1992. Secretary for the port pensioner’s committee, Herman Hernandez, said the pensioners have been lobbying for a resolution for the past three years. He said 1,002 port workers (from the 1970s to the present) were owed approximately $125 million.

“Only promises were made and they were not being fulfilled,” he said on behalf of the small group of pensioners protesting opposite Whitehall since Monday. Hernandez said, “What we are saying is the Port Authority has private agents monitoring and investing our money in the pension scheme. They (Port Authority) said it is to be invested in the interest of pensioners. It is the port’s responsibility to see the investment comes to us and we get the claims we are making.”

Hernandez said if the port fails to ensure that workers get what they are owed, then it was up to the Government since “The port is an arm of the Government.” He said their concerns have been brought to the attention of Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Conrad Enill; Works and Transport Minister; Franklin Khan, and Minister of Community Development Joan Yuille-Williams. Hernandez said it was Yuille-Williams who took the issue to Cabinet in October. She met with the committee a month later and told them that Government was working on a package.