JCTU wants Gov’t to contribute to public sector pension scheme
AS THE debate over public sector pension reform continues, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) is calling on the Government to also make contributions to the publicsector pension scheme to make it easier for workers when the new legislation takes effect.
The JCTU has also sought to clarify its position in relation to several issues, including that the public sector trade unions are opposed to their members contributing five per cent of their salaries to a scheme that will ultimately benefit these same public-sector workers upon retirement.
“The JCTU is demanding a real pension scheme in which not only the workers contribute their fair share, but, like in the private sector and some other government agencies, the employer also contributes their share. The ‘employer’ in this case is the Government of Jamaica,” stated a release from the JCTU.
This five per cent that the workers would pay comprises the existing four per cent now being deducted from publicsector
workers’ salaries and contributed to a scheme called Family Benefit and a further
one per cent, to be paid from these workers’ salary.
To this end, Helene DavisWhyte, president of the JCTU, sought to set the record straight, stating at yesterday’s press briefing that the umbrella organisation representing trade unions, the JCTU, had “absolutely no disagreement with the introduction of a contributory pension scheme”.
The unions’ proposal for reform “is something that will bring greater benefit to publicsector workers than them losing benefits”, she said.
“And to that end, our discussions with various administrations have been with the intention of ensuring that as far as possible, public-sector workers will not lose as a result of the introduction of pension reform,” Davis-Whyte said.
She said that discussions were ongoing on the issues and that the JCTU had already responded and put forward to the Government its position. They now await debate on the bill that is before Parliament.