ST. ANDREW, Grenada, October 8th — Leader of the opposition New National Party, Emmalin Pierre has pledged that an NNP government would review Grenada’s new pension legislation to allow eligible public officers who were serving when the 2022 court ruling was delivered to benefit from the 1958 pension plan.

Speaking at Carlton Junction on Thursday night, Pierre said the review would involve consultations with trade unions, putting pension eligibility back on the campaign agenda ahead of the November 5 general election and Nomination Day next Thursday.

“We are going to review the new pension legislation in consultation with the unions to ensure that all eligible public officers who were in the system at the time of the court ruling but were forced to join the su su plan … will be allowed to benefit from the 1958 pension plan,” Pierre said.

Her commitment targets officers whom she contends were directed into the newer contributory arrangement despite being in the public service when the court ruled.

Pensions have been a longstanding political and legal controversy. A March 2022 High Court ruling overturned pension disqualification provisions affecting public officers recruited from 1985. The then-Keith Mitchell-led NNP administration announced it would not appeal the decision.

After taking office in June 2022, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s National Democratic Congress administration began paying outstanding pensions and gratuities that November. The retroactive payments totaled about EC$75 million.

The administration later introduced the Public Sector Employees Defined Contribution Pension Plan, effective January 1, 2025, extending retirement coverage to workers previously outside the existing arrangements, including unestablished and contract employees.

The scheme Pierre called a “su su plan” accumulates contributions and investment returns to finance retirement benefits, rather than guaranteeing a pension calculated as a fixed proportion of salary.