STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL OFFICE
Pensioners still neglected and despised
The National Office of OSRA would first like to congratulate all Algerians on the occasion of the Independence Day of july 5, 2022 on the one hand, to wish them a happy Eid el Adha and to greet all those who participated in the success of the 2022 Mediterranean Games of ORAN.
The national office of OSRA, would like to specify in this regard that the 2021-2022 revaluation is very far from the expectations of retirees and even further from social and economic realities.
Speaking at a meeting between the Bank of Algeria and the country’s banks and financial institutions, the governor of the Bank of Algeria said that the inflation rate set last October was 9.2%, an increase of 6 points in one year. The new figure communicated by the director of the bank confirms a reality observed by Algerians since the beginning of the year, which has been marked by an increase in the prices of several consumer productssometimes exceeding 100%. For OSRA, the reality is that the purchasing power of the Algerian in general and the pensioner in particular has fallen dangerously and that the annual revaluation, provided for by Law No. 99-03 of 22 March 1999 amending and supplementing Law No. 83-12 of 2 July 1983 on retirement, announced and applied, does not cover even a tiny part of what pensioners have lost.
Today, even the abolition of the IRG for retirement pensions paid by the CNR will be insufficient to catch up with the pensioner’s purchasing power. To avoid a reduction in pensions by crossing a threshold causing wages to increase, we call in parallel for an increase in the rates of retirement pensions equivalent to those of salaries for the year 2022 with retroactive effect, according to each category, and the application of a revaluation at least equivalent to the rate of inflation on 1 May 2022, estimated at 10%.
We believe that only a strong union for pensioners can be their spokesperson and defender of their rights. OSRA has filed its application to activate legally. Today, a year later and despite the orientations of the President of the Republic on the application of the constitution and on trade union freedoms, the administration persists and remains a prisoner of tired visions and mentalities.
The question that remains unanswered is why this refusal and why this blockage? Why does the Algerian government not allow a pensioner to have his unionas everywhere in the world? The registration receipt obliges the union that obtained it to comply with the law. In addition, OSRA reiterates one of its first demands namely the urgency for the State and the need for Retirees that small pensions must be raised to the level of the SNMG, this is the minimum to “live”. It is unacceptable for an elderly person to survive below the SNMG after working all his life! Noting the strengthening of the country’s financial reserves, we call for the opening of negotiations for an increase as soon as possible in pensions which take account of inflation, the high cost of living andmiserable wages and salaries. In summary, OSRA, as the trade union organization of pensioners recalls its main demands:
- The issuance of his registration receipt and the reminder of the application of the guidelines of the President of the Republic on the labour law and the constitution.
- the repeal of the IRG for retirement pensions paid by the CNR
- the increase in the rates of retirement pensions equivalent to those of salaries observed this year 2022 with retroactive effect, according to each category.
- The revaluation at least equivalent to the inflation rate on 1 May 2022, estimated at 10%.
- Upgrading of health cost recoveries to 100% for all retirees.
- revaluation of all allowances that are currently insufficient
- Protect the purchasing power of the retiree by a law indexing wage increases to those of retirement pensions outside Law 99-03 of 22 March 1999 to limit the differences between pensioners and active workers.
OSRA recommends the repeal of Article 02 of 90-14 which blocks the trade union field and limits the freedom to form a trade union as provided for in the constitution. The freedom to create a trade union will allow the unemployed or students or other categories of citizens to have their own organization and will allow them to contribute to account for their years of unemployment or studies in retirement and will allow the CNR to have new entries. OSRA calls on all Pensioners’ Associations and Active Workers’ Unions to join the demands of the Algerian Pensioners’ Trade Union Organisation which are also theirs.
For, the OSRA National Office
Ahmed Badaoui
Source: WFTU