Today’s news from The Hague that retired civil servants of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba receiving a pension won’t be compensated for the 3.5 per cent cut in their monthly payments by the Pension Fund Caribbean Netherlands obviously won’t be welcomed among the persons involved. Although those residing in old age homes recently got what was called a “substantial increase” in their allowance, for most pensioners it simply means less income.
But the worst is yet to come, because a similar reduction of 12 per cent has already been announced for 2018 if no measures are taken to improve the fund financially. However, such a large drop would not only be unreasonable but can have serious social repercussions that can lead to highly undesirable consequences.
Caretaker State Secretary Jetta Klijnsma said additional support will be provided only to specific groups and that people in need may also apply for social welfare. That sounds nice, but surely the intention can’t be to turn retirees on the three islands who have served the community in the public sector into modern-day beggars.
Perhaps it’s too late to do anything about 2017, but the pension cut of next year should not be allowed to continue as predicted. Let’s face it; that probably wouldn’t be tolerated for any other Dutch municipality either.
