Government should never encourage low-income earning workers to withdraw their Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) savings during crises because of the impact it will have on their retirement.
This was the word from Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) national secretary Felix Anthony during the launch of the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s ‘Making the Fiji National Provident Fund Work for Workers’ report yesterday.
He made the comment in response to queries from the media on whether the FTUC had made a submission to the government to repay money low-income earners had withdrawn from their FNPF balances to put food on the table for their families during the pandemic.
“I don’t think they should have encouraged members to withdraw their FNPF funds in the first place,” he said.
“At a time of crisis it becomes Government’s responsibility to assist people and they must have the capacity to do that.
“When we have natural disasters like hurricanes — it’s something we know we will get, but the thing is, what are we doing to plan for that?
“Is Government putting away some kind of funds for those kinds of events?
“Or do we wait and see, and when it happens, go around asking for aid and assistance and getting members to withdraw their FNPF?
“That’s what we’ve been doing, so there’s been basically no planning.
“I don’t see anything in the budget where the Government puts something away every year to deal with all the natural crises that we face in Fiji.”
- Questions sent to Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on the comments made by Mr Anthony remain unanswered when this edition went to press.
