Oneil Grant, President of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) - file photo
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JCSA President Oneil Grant
Debate on the Public Sector Pension bills is to resume on Friday in the Senate after headway was made in discussions between trade unions and Finance Minister Audley Shaw a little more than a week ago.
The debate on the bills was suspended in the Senate to allow for the discussions to settle some of the outstanding concerns of the unions.
Oneil Grant, President of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), said following the meeting on September 15, the unions were able to get the Minister of Finance to agree to two additional items, the first being recognition for years of service for temporary officers.
"We got the government to agree that whilst they can't recognise the temporary service until they become pensionable, they will allow temporary officers to contribute to a fund, and if they never become appointed, they will get a refund of their contributions with interest," Mr. Grant pointed out.
The second items is in regards to the issue of the computation of pensions.
According to Mr. Grant, "We started off with the government wanting to use the last five years of pensionable service and then they reduced it to three. We got the government to agree that they will continue to use the last pensionable salary drawn at the date of retirement to calculate the pension."
It was further agreed that discussions on other outstanding items will continue in a Pension Reform Working Group which will involve trade unions and representatives of the Finance Ministry.
Mr. Grant said among the items is the date for the Government to begin contributing to the pension fund.
He said the Finance Minister indicated at the recent meeting that the Government could override what is contained in pension regulations.
"The law speaks to when the government attains 60 per cent of GDP, however, Minister Shaw did indicate that whilst that might have been fixed in the law, the government and the minister will be doing things that will cause them to probably contribute earlier, possibly a phased contribution of pensions into the funds over time," the JCSA president outlined.
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