A motor vehicle revolving loan pool totalling some $45 million, is among a number of fringe benefits included in the new three-year collective agreement between Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart) and the National Workers Union(NWU).

The union is to determine distribution of the motor vehicle loan funds, using existing criteria, while the company is to administer the distribution, according to the agreement.

The unionised employees will also have access to loans to acquire motor vehicle tyres and batteries, ranging from $45,000 to $55,000, as well as an additional loan pool of $13 million for which no specific purpose has been attached.

The agreement, which was signed in August, also includes educational assistance for the 2008/2009 school year of $23,000-$28,000 per term for primary education; $27,000-$35,000 per term for secondary/high school education; and $85,000-$95,000 for tertiary education.

It also includes a total loan pool of $20 million to assist employees in purchasing their own homes, mortgage assistance or home improvement. The maximum allocation per employee is $500,000.

A worker housing committee is to continue the process of assisting employees in owning lots or homes, and the company will continue identifying the lands. The company and the union are to consider proposals for assisting workers to own their own homes within five years.

The workers are also entitled to a signing bonus of $100,000 for each person who has worked at least 260 regular hours between January 1 and the date of signing of the agreement.

And, like other contracts in the bauxite/alumina sector, male workers are entitled to three days paternity leave, on a maximum of three occasions, on the birth of a child.

Wages increases agreed to are – 19 per cent for the period January 1-December 31, 2008; 12 per cent for January 1- December 31, 2009; and, 10 per cent for January 1-December 31, 2010.

A personal income protection clause, to ensure that the value of the salaries of the workers are not eroded by devaluation, is triggered by the average exchange rate of the last 15 days of each year.

The agreement also covers public holiday pay, premiums, vacation leave, uniform allowance, subsistence allowance, unusual discomfort allowance, end-of-project bonus and travelling assistance.

The agreement was signed on August 7.