Are the pensioners doomed?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe speaking at the 32nd anniversary of Public Services United Nurses Union has made a frightening revelation. The Employers Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees Trust Fund (ETF) are bankrupt and there are no funds in the government coffers to pay pensions, he has said. In a few years, according to Mr. Wickremasinghe, there will be no funds to grant retirement benefits to workers be it in the private or the public sector. This no doubt sends a chill down the spine of every worker.

Mr. Wickremasinghe’s detractors may argue that he is trying to frighten those opposed to his MoU with the terrorists into silence by waving this bankruptcy card so as to justify the way he proposes to solve the NE problem without a ‘costly war’ and raise funds for economic development. He is also trying to justify the government’s decision in compliance with IMF/WB dictates to scrap the pension scheme for government servants in future, they may argue.

But going by the economic devastation the country experienced during the latter parts of the previous regime, there cannot be any doubts about the shocking revelation he has made.

In any other country, legal action would have been instituted promptly against those responsible for an offence of this magnitude which borders on crime. It is not difficult to identify the culprits. As for the EPF, it was directly under President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was Minister of Finance. She is immune from the law. But there were other worthies handling the funds. Immediate action must be taken against these officials.

Unfortunately, some of those who made their contribution to the country’s economic downfall and the ruination of the workers’ funds in no small way are still ensconced in their positions. They have survived the change of government, which the people thought would see the lid of many a scandal committed under the previous regime being blown off and many responsible for them thrown behind bars. With these officials on board the question is how the UNF is going to accomplish the daunting task of bringing about economic recovery and salvaging the EPF and the ETF.

Be that as it may, Mr. Wickremasinghe must receive the fullest cooperation from the workers, their trade unions and the general public in his endeavours if the imminent danger is to be averted.

Where have the trade unions been all this while? This is the billion-rupee question. We were treated to a plethora of gimmicks on May Day by various trade unions parading as they did the streets of Colombo and shouting themselves hoarse with pro-worker slogans. Where were these guardians of workers’ rights while their funds were being plundered?

Where were the strike-hardened red shirts in the PA?

They have all been caught napping. Perhaps, they may have been reduced to pulp on May Day by angry workers had they known the truth earlier.

The workers whose collective future is threatened should hold these trade unions too responsible for what their political bosses have done to the workers.

Certain actions of the UNF raise the question whether it itself has realised the gravity of the problem or is sincere in its efforts to pull the country back from the present economic mire. It has, according to a news item we carried yesterday, decided to appoint a dozen of defeated MPs as advisors to various ministries with full pay and perks. Recently it was reported that about 14 ministers had gone abroad on some innocuous missions. We still see ruling party politicians moving about in flashy vehicles and enjoying all perks like their predecessors. All this means extravagant expenditure, which the UNF promised to do away with and is unbecoming of a government at the helm of a bankrupt state, advocating austerity.

The future of millions being at stake, resuscitating the EPF and the ETF and raising adequate funds to pay pensions must be placed high on the government’s agenda. And how the government proposes to do so must be spelt out. The best way to set about this is to call a parliamentary debate first of all so that how this criminal waste or plundering of the workers’ funds had occurred could be exposed.

Meanwhile, workers must force their trade unions to make common cause on this vital matter and launch a concerted campaign to save their funds.

Your comments to the Editor