KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Petrotrin retiree Victor Joseph is 73 years old, one year older than Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, so he remembers the struggles locals faced under British rule.
But as Joseph stood on the pavement near White Hall yesterday, he reflected on the difference in their lives.
After 15 years working at Petrotrin and its predecessor companies, he struggles to maintain his and his wife’s health now that the Petrotrin Employees Medical Benefits Plan ended with the closure of the State-owned company.
Joseph and other retirees joined Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget in front of the Office of the Prime Minister, demanding urgent actions on their medical plan. With him and many of his former colleagues nursing several illnesses, he said it was because of the chemicals they worked among during their years in the oilfields and refineries.
The OWTU and retirees visited White Hall on March 25 to deliver a letter to Rowley detailing their pain and suffering. Two weeks later, Rowley is yet to respond, and Joseph says it is an insult to the retirees. He feels betrayed by Rowley.
“In 2015, when he was in Opposition, the last biggest meeting we had from the Savannah to Brian Lara Promenade, he walked with us. He held hands with members of the central executive.
He promised in his speech on the Promenade that he would assist the Union because of the difficulty we were getting from the other political party. He has turned against us,” Joseph said.
He began receiving a pension in 2007. With no adjustments over the years, the cost of living increasing, Joseph and others cannot afford a new medical plan and are too old to qualify. They spend between $1,500 and $1,800 monthly on medication for themselves and their spouses.
Roget called on Rowley to have a heart and see the retirees as human beings. Roget said Petrotrin did not give the retirees a medical plan as it was a benefit the OWTU negotiated for during their working years. When the Government shut down Petrotrin in 2018, they lost the medical plan guaranteed to them for the rest of their life.
He said what the Government put in place for the retirees and zero was the same, affecting the health and well being of senior citizens who contributed to the country’s wealth and national development.
“All we call for is a response that would see us putting in place something to take care of these senior citizens who would have contributed. Not even an acknowledgement. Not even a response today. You would be wondering how some people would be so heartless in the face of the suffering of this group of workers, having taken away their entitlement, and not even an acknowledgement,” Roget said.
Roget said the contributory pension plan continues to be in jeopardy. The last actuarial report published in September 2019 showed that the pension plan was $4.6 billion in deficit. Roget said Rowley, former Energy Minister Franklin Khan and Minister of Finance Colm Imbert had previously committed to funding the deficit. The Government has not taken any action to date.