COSATU wants amendments to the Pension Act fast-tracked

Labour federation, COSATU says it will continue to put pressure on both the National Treasury and Parliament to speed up the processing of amendments to the Pension Act to allow workers in financial distress limited access to their pensions.

Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks says the process must be concluded as soon as possible so that it kicks in by the beginning of next year.

Parks says the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on workers with many of them losing their jobs.

He says if government doesn’t want to support the Private Members Bill currently before the Standing Committee on Finance, it must table its own Bill.

“There is a Private Members Bill currently at Parliament. COSATU feels this is a good platform to engage and address some concerns and provide workers limited access to their pension funds to enable them to survive for another day. It is important to get the balance between giving workers relief and also ensure the sustainability of pension funds so that when workers retire they have sufficient funds to take care of them.  The point is something needs to be done urgently, government needs to move with speed,” says Parks.