Previous Story
Let them retire
|
Posted on Jul 11 2008
At 10am this morning (July 10), Taotao Tano went before the Retirement Fund board, chaired by Juan T. Guerrero, during a scheduled meeting to address a critical matter concerning qualified Class 2 government employees who are due to retire but are unable and are held back due to the government’s irresponsibility and failure to remit employer contributions in a timely manner to the Retirement Fund, and are treated as if they have no choice. This is wrong, and there is always an option within applicable laws to find solutions to this type of problems. Why should these employees who have worked 30 years or more be given the runaround for something they are owed? Why are they shouldering the burden of the government’s incompetence, irresponsibility and ignorance? It is not right that approximately 300-400 Class 2 qualified retirees have to bear someone else’s mistake and failures. What we are dealing with here is people’s livelihood and it is highly discriminatory and unjust and it’s a shame that our Legislature has not acted or prioritized this critical issue. These are human beings, not machines, and machines do give out when they are overworked.
One solution currently pending before the House of Representative is to amend Public law 15-61 to allow the Northern Mariana Island Retirement Fund to pay pension proportionate to the employer contributions. We checked with the Legislature and Senate Bill 16-36 SD2 was passed by a majority of the Senate. It is now before a lower house committee for review as per the Speaker of the House Arnold Palacios during a brief meet this morning. We will pursue this matter and ensure the passage of this bill for it is the only right thing to do for this deserving and hardworking Class 2 government employees who are ready to retire.
As president of Taotao Tano I call on all Class 2 qualified to retire government employees to meet and discuss this important and critical issue. I encourage them to call us at 256-2325/285-1734 so that we may discuss and address this issue as a whole so that we may achieve our goals in getting them the assistance they need.
[B]Gregorio Cruz Jr. [/B] [I]President, Taotao Tano [/I]
