Employment Ministry to meet TEWU leadership over unpaid pension arrears

The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations is set to engage in discussions today with the leadership of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of TUC regarding overdue tier-2 pension arrears owed to its members.

TEWU had previously established an April deadline for the government to resolve all outstanding payments concerning SSNIT and tier-2 pension contributions, which have reportedly

Read full articleremained unpaid since June 2023.

Expressing concern over the delay, King James Azortibah, the General Secretary of the union, described the situation as regrettable. He emphasized the importance of addressing the issue promptly, especially for members nearing retirement.

Azortibah highlighted the purpose of tier-2 contributions as investments for retirement benefits, noting that timely payments are essential for effective fund management.

“Going into the meeting, this is something that is really unfortunate and something that we have tried to understand the government but it is becoming too much to the disservice of members, especially our members who are retiring,” he said in an interview with Citi News.

“Tier-2 is meant for investment so that when people are going on retirement, they will be paid, but SSNIT doesn’t pay the lump sum any longer. The lump sum is being paid by our tier-2 fund managers and so they can only make good investment out of it if the money is available for investment. This is a salary deduction that is deducted from our members’ salaries every month and so it is unfortunate,” he added.