Retirement security and the right to decent, adequate and predictable pensions must be placed at the heart of economic recovery plans, according to leadership representatives of trade unions from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
This was the conclusion from a meeting on pensions organized by the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD held in Paris earlier this month. National Union of Public and General Employees' (NUPGE) National Secretary-Treasurer, Larry Brown (pictured left), attended the meeting representing both NUPGE and PSI. "It was reassuring to hear the OECD state so frankly that an effective pension system is not only socially necessary, but also one of the required responses to the economic crisis," he said.
OECD representatives who TUAC invited to the meeting also made it clear that the weakening of pension systems is not a sensible response to the economic crisis. OECD pointed out that cutting national pension systems during this period of economic instability would act as an economic destabilizer. This would be especially dangerous in a time when the baby boom generation is beginning to retire in large numbers. OECD officials said that the organisation is concerned about the creation of widespread poverty if pension systems are not maintained.
Read more here: http://www.nupge.ca/node/2417
Comments