A sit-in for retired engineers protesting poor pensions: “$312 is not enough.”

A number of retired engineers gathered in a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Peruvian Engineers Union, to express their rejection of the proposed pension amount of 312 US dollars, which they believe is not enough to meet the most basic requirements of a decent life.

The sit-in was accompanied by a press conference, during which the head of the Constituent Body of Retired Engineers, Walid Al-Sundid, reviewed the reasons for this movement and its goals, stressing that “the call for the sit-in came as a form of democratic struggle, to save the rights of retirees and defend their rights acquired over decades, since the retirement law was passed by the Engineers Syndicate in 1967.”

The Fund directed its speech to the Pension Fund Management Authority, considering it to be the body primarily responsible for dealing with retirees’ issues, and urging it to fully implement the Pension Law, especially with regard to preparing the fund’s budget and submitting it to the body of delegates for approval, in addition to working to launch investment projects to support the Pension Fund and searching for sustainable sources of financing, “instead of just calculating and distributing the existing funds, as if its role is limited to accounting work only.”

He also called for activating the provisions of the law and revitalizing the work of the Retirement Fund Monitoring Committee, elected by the General Authority of Engineers, and facilitating the tasks assigned to it, with the aim of ensuring proper management of retirees’ funds and achieving transparency in decision-making.

Al-Sundid called on the head of the Engineers Syndicate and the Retirement Fund Management Committee to strive to provide additional funding sources, such as imposing fees on engineering products, increasing fees on building meters and agricultural pharmacy, in addition to benefiting from government tax funds and other available resources.

In turn, Engineer Abdullah Shams Al-Din delivered a speech in which he explained the objectives of the sit-in and the demands of retired engineers, stressing the importance of ensuring a decent standard of living commensurate with the long years of service spent by retirees in the engineering sector.