St Kitts and Nevis: Pension payments for eligible GAE workers start tomorrow

The St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew, has fulfilled its promise to begin pension payments for Government Auxiliary Employees. This significant development which has been delivered in less than two years in office will be providing financial support to eligible retirees.

The Government will be hosting a special event tomorrow at 8:30 am to mark the commencement of the pension payments.

According to the information, the persons who will be eligible for these pensions include the former GAEs with at least 15 years of service and the ones who retired after May 18, 2012.

The government also announced that people aged 62 and above will start receiving payments with back pay from January 2024, and for the ones below the age of 62, payments begin at the age of 62, and if the person dies before 62, a one-year pension will go to the beneficiary.

This development underscores PM Drew's commitment to rectifying the injustice of the former Team Unity Administration, which, according to him, discontinued the end-of-tenure gratuity that rewarded this classification of workers for their several years of service.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced during a live radio show that instead of helping the GAE workers the previous administration made it harder for them.

He further mentioned that these are the well deserving individuals who are the crossing guards, drivers, messengers, environmental workers, technicians and several others.

Dr. Drew further explained that before 2021, GAE workers used to receive a gratuity that was calculated utilizing a favorable formula, but then the government used different criteria and cut their gratuity by almost two-thirds, making it even less than half the amount they used to receive.

However, the Labour administration in St Kitts and Nevis reinstated their pensions, and they will start receiving them tomorrow.

PM Terrance Drew further highlighted that the pension payments will begin with a selected number of GAEs at the event tomorrow, with other payments being made afterwards.