State retirees receive raise

As promised a group of the nation’s state retirees who are members of the BBGO on Thursday received their pension and a 25% raise with retroactive effect on their bank accounts. “We are glad that the president kept his promise,” said one of the state retirees.

Michael Miskin, director at the Pension Fund Suriname, on Thursday confirmed that SRD 55 million had been wired to the fund’s bank account. The director explained that the pensions are paid on the fifteenth of every month.

Renate WoudenBhugwandass, chairwoman of the BBGO, pointed out that she received many calls and responses from state retirees who have not received their raise. She explained that there is no reason for them to worry as they could receive their raise on December 15. “The state retirees had to wait one year and ten months for the raise so it would not hurt to be patient a little longer,” said Wouden who added that state retirees who do not get their raise on December 15 could be the problem cases and will then receive the raise next year. She explained that the Pension Fund must check their diplomas or that other administrative affairs must be taken care of at the Pension Fund.

Reports indicate that there are about 600 retired teachers whose diplomas must be filed. Some state retirees are not included in the FISO wage system of the government. These are some of the problems that must be addressed by the Pension Fund which is why these state retirees will have to wait a bit longer for their raise. The chairwoman of the BBGO pointed out that it is unclear to her how these mistakes were made. 11,300 members of the BBGO still have not received their raise. 25% of them or 2,825 will get their raise with retroactive effect on December 15 while the remaining 8,475 union members will get their money no later than March 15, 2019.