BUSTAMANTE Industrial Trade Union (BITU) President Senator Kavan Gayle says his union welcomes the announcement of the setting up of a working group for consultations on issues delaying passage of the pension reform Bills in the Senate.

Senator Gayle, in a Jamaica Observer interview, was responding to Minister of Finance and Public Service Audley Shaw’s announcement at last Thursday’s joint press briefing on the results of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) second review of the Jamaican economy under the year-old Precautionary Stand-By Agreement, that a working group comprising representatives of the ministry and public sector unions is being established to facilitate further consultations on the regulations to the Bills.

This follows several delays in taking a vote on the Bills in the Senate after their passage in the House of Representatives in April.

The failure of the Government and Opposition members of the Senate to see eye-to-eye on some of the issues, and a constant demand for further consultations from the Opposition’s benches caused postponement on a vote twice since July.

The delays led to IMF team leader Uma Ramakrishnan cautioning the Government at Thursday’s briefing at Jamaica House that passage of the Bills is essential to sustain the rebound in the economy the team had detected its review since its first review in April.

Shaw responded that the establishment of the working group would enable exploration of issues arising in relation to the administration of the pension reform programme and seek consensus without further delaying the process.

Senator Gayle said that the Government’s decision to appoint a working group with representatives from both the ministry and the unions would facilitate consultations which could lead to consensus on the issues.

“The unions had called for further consultations with the ministry, and I had appealed for a working group to be appointed to give the ministry and the unions the chance to discuss the issues, including discussions on the regulations which will flow from the passage of the Bills,” Gayle said.

Shaw also stated that he and state minister, Rudyard Spencer, would be willing to meet with the unions to explain things more carefully.

“We are willing to work together to thrash out whatever concerns they have in terms of the administration of the programme…even after the Bills are passed,” Shaw added.

The two pension Bills — the Pensions (Public Service) Act 2017 and the Constitution (Amendment) (Establishment Fund) (Payment of Pensions) Act 2017 — are slated to lay the foundation for a contributory pension fund for the public sector workers, most of whom do not contribute to their current pension system.

The new system is expected to become fully effective on April 1, 2019, when all pensionable Government workers will contribute five per cent of their salaries to the new fund.