MELPWU rejects haircut on pension funds

The Medical Laboratory Professional Workers’ Union (MELPWU) has rejected the government’s plan to impose a haircut on pension funds, stressing “retiring workers cannot bear that cost.”

According to the Union, slashing interest payments on domestic bonds would directly affect the return on pension funds which had been heavily invested by Fund Managers in government bonds.

That, the union feared, would jeopardise the livelihood of many of its members and health workers in general who were due for pension, as well as the millions of retirees who were already struggling to survive.

General Secretary

A statement signed by the General Secretary of MELPWU, Cephas Kofi Akortor, declared that the union would resist the plan if pension funds were not exempted from the government’s debt restructuring programme.

“We shall join forces with organised labour to resist this plan which will clearly create more survival challenges for workers,” the statement said.

Although the government has assured that pension funds would not be affected by haircuts, the union maintains that all analysis of the Finance Minister's announcement indicated that pensions funds invested in bonds would be affected by virtue of the general slash on interest payment on bonds, as well as the extension of the maturity period bonds.

The union, therefore, called for a rethinking of the plan through broad consultation with organised labour for a more sustainable solution to the government’s debt crisis.