Rights of the elderly to be defended by new trade union

The Trade Union “Movement for Justice” is a new organization that will deal with the problems faced by the elderly people. It was founded on April 7 and will initially work in the country’s districts with the largest number of people, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the trade union’s head Ana Tcaci, such an organization is needed as the pensioners in Moldova are nowadays treated inappropriately. “The social inequity and privileges enjoyed by those who worked in offices all their lives made us start doing justice,” Ana Tcaci told a news conference on April 10. The idea was implemented with the participation of pensioners and labor veterans from the municipality of Balti and Cahul, Edinet, Briceni, Basarabeasca, and Soroca districts. “We now have representatives only in the districts with a large population because we are at the initial stage, but we plan to extend our activity into all the districts of Moldova,” said the head of the Trade Union “Movement for Justice”. “Those who worked their entire lives are now poor, while the sly ones managed to get an honorable pension. Each third pensioner in Moldova is on the verge of poverty. 94% of the elderly have a pension lower than 1,000 lei,” stated Ana Tcaci. The trade union aims to protect the rights of the pensioners. It will implement special projects that will be coordinated with the Government and Parliament so as to allow the persons able to work to serve society and their own interests. Among the planned measures are to open a gym for pensioners in the municipality of Chisinau and special workshops like embroidery and fruit drying workshops. The program also includes cultural activities for the elderly, concerts and literary clubs within which the pensioners will be consulted by doctors free of charge. There are about 620,000 pensioners in Moldova at present. The old age pension is 900 lei on average. Those who worked in agriculture receive a pension of slightly over 500 lei. But the pensions of statesmen amount to over 6,000 lei.