Ukraine's pensioners lead uncertain existence in uncertain times (08/23/98)

INDEPENDENT UKRAINE: THE 7th ANNIVERSARY

Ukraine's pensioners lead uncertain existence in uncertain times

by Olena Welhasch

KYIV - For most Americans, retirement is an anticipated rite of passage worthy of celebration. In Ukraine, the opposite is true. Pensioners, as senior citizens are called in Ukraine, lead a very uncertain existence. Like the average Ukrainian worker, they are underpaid and receive their pay irregularly. Most pensioners are paid even less than the average underpaid worker and in many cases, the cost of living exceeds the amount they receive.

The typical pensioners - retired farmers, factory workers, teachers, professors, doctors, or kiosk cashiers - comprise the first group of pensioners, who are paid the least and who represent the majority of senior citizens receiving pensions in Ukraine.

According to official government sources, they are paid an average of 59 hrv per month ($29 U.S.). This minimal amount makes it impossible to survive solely on one's pension in a country where the standard food basket costs 55 hrv per month. The crisis is compounded when the pensioners are not paid for months at a time. How do these people survive?

Sixty-year-old Natalia Korol, a retired factory worker from the village of Scherets in the Lviv Oblast, does whatever she can for a few extra hryvni. She has not received her pension for three months and she lives in a three-room house with her mother, husband, son, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

Her son-in-law is the only member of the family who is currently employed. He makes 104 hrv a month at a sugar factory, where sometimes his paycheck is substituted with a couple of sacks of sugar.

Natalia's son and daughter have been out of work for three years and now work in the fields from dawn until dusk with Natalia and her husband. The family is fortunate, however, because they have a cow, some chickens and their own horse. In order to earn money, Natalia travels to Lviv once a week where she sells milk, eggs and raspberries. This weekly trip leaves the family of eight with enough money to pay their gas bill and to buy flour to bake bread.

Natalia's 12 to 16-hour days, six days each week is a far cry from the days of senior citizens in America who spend their time acquiring wrinkles in the Florida sunshine.

Pensioners in Ukraine's cities also live in constant fear of not having enough money to make it through the month. Their pensions are paid more regularly, however, because they must purchase their food.

Orest Dimitrov, a retired Kyiv store clerk says, "The 42 hryvni a month are not enough. I own a plot of land along the Dnipro on which I grow potatoes and other vegetables." Other senior citizens scrounge around the city collecting empty bottles in order to earn a few kopiyky for their return. Some sell cigarettes on the street; others hawk old silverware and clothing to get by.

The less fortunate pensioners, those who are very old, or afflicted with some sort of illness, or World War II veterans belong to the second category of pensioners, while inhabitants of the Chornobyl zone are in the third group. The fourth group consists of former government officials and lawmakers. The pension rates increase exponentially from group one to four.

Here's some food for thought: there are 14.5 million pensioners in Ukraine. The lawmakers and political officials who decide how much money should be set aside for the Pension Fund will recieve the largest pensions in Ukraine. And they continue to be driven around Kyiv in their luxurious foreign automobiles, wining and dining in the restaurants whose dumpsters provide delicious leftovers for their elderly constituents.

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