CFL calls for wider discussion of state pension plan
View(s):The Ceylon Federation of Labour (CFL) this week called for wider discussion on and publication as a white paper, proposals by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to merge the EPF and the ETF and create one pension fund.T.M.R. Rasseedin, CFL Deputy General Secretary, in a statement said that the public should not leave room for politicians and officials to waste resources of this new pension fund as they did with the EPF/ETF funds.
This money belongs to the working people of this country and is deposited in their individual accounts in the EPF/ETF, the Central Bank serving as the custodian of the funds. “That the EPF was under severe strain during the Rajapaksa administration was public knowledge. What is now being envisaged is not the rectification of the sordid practices of the previous administration but the conversion of the EPF/ETF into a pension fund without the consent of the members subscribing to the Fund, unlocking the fund from the Central Bank and vesting Rs. 1.7 trillion with a team of private fund managers,” the statement said.
He said the CFL has no objection to reviewing the guiding principles for investment of accumulated funds so as to stem the irresponsible management practices and actions amounting to abuse of the EPF in favour of business cronies as resorted to by the Rajapaksa regime.
“In the considered opinion of the CFL a pension for the elderly shall be the responsibility of the state.The CFL firmly believes that the Central Bank is the most safe and secure place for the EPF/ETF. Some in the government are in an indecent haste to release the Rs. 1.7 trillion to bolster the capital market to promote capitalist development for private profit imperilling long-term viability of the Fund. The CFL calls upon the government to make known to the working people of this country who are also members of the EPF and ETF full details of the plans it has drawn up to convert the EPF/ETF into a pension fund,” the statement said
Mr. Rasseedin said EPF/ETF members have a right to be informed of the fate that awaits their hard-earned savings and earnings. “The government should publicise the proposed legislation as a White-Paper so that members of the EPF/ETF are enabled to study the benefits/ implications of the government proposal to move the EPF/ETF to the private sector”.