…as unions, Ram threaten legal action
(Kaieteur News) – Minimum-rate NIS pensioners may be entitled to years of unpaid pension arrears, with several trade unions and attorney-at-law Christopher Ram giving the National Insurance Board seven days to explain why payments have allegedly fallen below the statutory minimum.
Attorney-at-law, Christopher Ram
In a letter dated October 1, 2026 and addressed to the Secretary of the National Insurance Board, Ram and representatives of several trade union bodies contend that the NIS has failed to comply with a statutory requirement governing the minimum old-age pension.
The letter points to Regulation 4(b) of the Benefit Regulations, which was amended in 2015 to increase the statutory minimum old-age pension from 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the Public Service minimum wage. According to the signatories, the requirement was last met in 2020, when the Public Service minimum wage was $70,000 and the NIS minimum pension was $35,000.
They contend that although the Public Service minimum wage subsequently increased several times, the NIS minimum pension was not adjusted accordingly. The letter states that the 2026 National Estimates put the Public Service minimum wage at $102,346. Fifty per cent of that figure is $51,173, while the published NIS minimum pension is $43,075.
This, according to the signatories, represents a monthly shortfall of $8,098 for every pensioner receiving the minimum rate. The group is demanding that the NIS Board identify every affected pensioner, calculate the arrears owed and make payment. They further argue that subsequent increases in the minimum pension cannot erase arrears which had already accrued.
The letter also raises the issue of retroactive increases in the Public Service minimum wage, arguing that where such increases were made effective from an earlier date, the NIS should explain the legal basis for not similarly adjusting the statutory pension from that date. The signatories also point to Section 34(2) of the National Insurance and Social Security Act, which provides that any temporary insufficiency in the assets of the Fund to meet its liabilities is to be met from monies advanced by Parliament.
The Board has been given seven days from receipt of the letter to state its position on the alleged underpayments dating from 2021 and to provide a full account of the amounts allegedly owed to minimum-rate pensioners. “If the Board disputes liability,” the letter states, it should provide within the seven-day period “the precise legal basis” on which it contends that paying below the statutory minimum was lawful. Failure to provide a satisfactory response, the signatories warned, will result in legal proceedings “without further notice.”
The proposed proceedings could seek declarations, an account of all sums due, payment of arrears with interest, mandatory orders to ensure continuing compliance, costs and other relief deemed appropriate by the court. “This letter constitutes formal notice of intended proceedings,” the group declared.
GTUC General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis
Norris Witter, President of the General Workers Union
Eslyn Harris, President of Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union.
Among those signing the letter are representatives of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, National Union of Public Service Employees, General Workers Union, Guyana Local Government Officers Union, Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers, United Minibus Union, Guyana Market Vendors Union, Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union, GTC/GTT Pensioners Association and Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union. The letter was copied to the Chairman of the National Insurance Board, the General Manager of the National Insurance Scheme and the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance. The letter does not state the total value of arrears potentially owed to affected pensioners.
Source: Kaieteur News
