The Grenada government says that by November, it intends to begin paying pension to eligible public sector workers who retired as far back as 1985.
However, newly elected Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says a plan has to be formulated as to whether the retroactive payment of EC$60 million will be paid in full or over a period of time.
“We reiterated our commitment to pay the pensions and we indicated to them we are not fighting legal entitlements and in that regard, we indicated that we want to address the retroactive part of the pension because we felt those persons would be the one most disadvantaged having not had the pensions paid at all,” Mitchell said, following weekend talks with trade union representatives on the issue.
“The data coming out from the Ministry of Finance is that the retroactive payment is going to be in the region of EC$60 million. We indicated to the unions that one way or the other we intend to make a payment by the 30th of November.
“The question is whether we pay all of it by 30th November or whether we make an initial payment and make proposals for the balance to be paid over a period of time,” said Mitchell, who had attended the meeting accompanied by Grenada’s Economic Development Minister, Lennox Andrew, and the Attorney General, Claudette Joseph.
A statement issued by the Public Workers Union (PWU) on Monday confirmed the commitment by Mitchell that his administration would honor a High Court ruling upholding the outstanding pension payments for public officers.
In the statement, the PWU said trade unions representing teachers, prisons and police met with Prime Minister Mitchell last weekend to “discuss the single item agenda, pension and gratuity.”
According to the PWU the unions received “firm commitment” from Prime Minister Mitchell to upholding the March 29, 2020 High Court ruling, as well as the “government will commence the payment pensions and gratuities to all affected retired public officers from 1985 to present” and that the payment will begin from November 30 this year.
In addition, the PWU said the unions were given the commitment “that the estates of all eligible officers and teachers who have since died, will be subsequently paid” and that “all public workers retired in 2022 will be paid their gratuity and pension commencing 2022”.
The PWU said the meeting was conducted in “a cordial manner” and Prime Minister Mitchell, who came to office after leading his National Democratic Party (NDC) to a 9-6 victory in the June 23 general election, has also given an assurance to honoring the payment of pensions to all eligible public officers and teachers in Grenada “who qualify under the law, according to the various Pension Acts going forward”.
The government’s proposals have been submitted to the unions and staff associations for review with a second meeting scheduled for the end of July.
“We made it clear in our campaign that we were serious about addressing the pension issue and in a broader context, I think anyone who works all their life, retires and find themselves unable to live must ask what type of society I am living in and more importantly what does the future hold for those who are working,” Prime Minister Mitchell said.
In April this year, the former Grenada government, said it had appointed the former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Sir Dennis Byron, to a five-member committee to provide technical advice and general guidance following a High Court ruling that could result in the government having to pay a significant amount of money to public servants.
The workers were disqualified from receiving a pension following the enforcement of the Pension Disqualification Act (PDA) in 1983 and their representative trade union bodies took the government to court challenging the PDA.
