A proposal to increase pension benefits under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and for the introduction of a special health plan for NIS pensioners is before Cabinet, according to Labour and Social Security Minister, Horace Dalley.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Labour Advisory Committee (LAC), the Minister said the health plan would cover areas such as diagnostic services, prescription drugs and surgery.

He would also propose, the labour minister said, an increase in the national wage ceiling from $250,000 to help in financing the National Health Fund (NHF). However, he did not indicate what the new ceiling would be at this time.

The NIS is expected to funnel $400 million into the $2.2 billion a year budget of the newly-instituted NHF which will begin, on June 1, offering benefits to about 750,000 Jamaicans who suffer from about 14 chronic diseases.

Addressing members of the tripartite body involving trade unions, employers and the government, Dalley said that the ministry was committed to the social protection of workers.

“The state will continue to play a role in providing income and social protection for the workforce and to ensure that minimum standards to protect the rights and well-being of the workers are maintained,” he said.

He added that in reforming the labour market for global competitiveness, the Ministry would give priority attention to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the National Health Fund, the National Insurance Pensioners Health Plan and minimum wage.

“I am committed to advancing the social legislative reform process so as to provide the necessary protection for our workers, particularly the more vulnerable groups (such as) our security guards and hundreds of other persons working in other sectors,” the Labour and Social Security Minister said.

Minister Dalley also pointed out that the function of the LAC needed to be redesigned so that it could effectively contribute to the reform process. In this regard, he said that officials at the Ministry were requested to “examine the administrative and technical support provided by the LAC and to make recommendations on the way to improve it and make it more effective. We have to strengthen the LAC’s capabilities to respond to the agenda of issues, and to do so quickly,” he said.

He noted that the LAC must act as a clearinghouse for matters that impact on the work force and which ought to be taken to Parliament for legislative approval.

Vice President for the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Senator Dwight Nelson, in his address, concurred with Minister Dalley’s proposal to strengthen the LAC to allow it to “effectively address the grave concerns the trade unions have in protecting workers’ rights”.

He also called on the Ministry to introduce a public education campaign to sensitise employers and the general public on the relevance of the labour laws and the workings of the Labour Court.

“The Court, whilst not enforceable by law, sets out a series of processes that would seek to improve and create a more harmonious relationship between employers and employees,” Senator Nelson said.

The BITU vice president said that he had found that several employers were ignorant of the provisions of the Labour Court, and that legislation protecting security guards in particular, needed to be revisited.

“Employers in this area are totally ignoring the provisions of the law and are treating security guards with impunity and taking away from them, their rights as workers as defined by the law,” Senator Nelson said.