Stakeholders want more time on Pension Bill

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Private sector stakeholders believe that more discussion is needed on the controversial Pension Bill before it is presented to parliament on 24 May.

Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge has said that a new draft of the Pension Bill will be tabled before parliament on 24 May, but the Joint Business Forum (JBIZ) feels that this would be premature.

JBIZ Chairman Lal de Alwis told the Daily FT that even though steps by the Finance Ministry to address the concerns of the trade unions and private sector representatives was laudable more discussions should take place before the Bill is presented before parliament.

“It has been reported that several concerns will be addressed in the fresh draft. However, there is need for more discussion and we feel that 24 May is too short a time to do this in detail. Therefore we hope that the government will consult trade unions and business chambers before they go ahead with the Bill. There is no need to hurry in this manner as the Bill can be presented before Parliament once all the concerns are properly addressed to the satisfaction of all. Otherwise there is room for workers to be disadvantaged,” he said.

It was earlier reported that according to the new draft the employee will be able to draw his pension from the day he retires, rather than at age 60, which was a stipulation in the earlier draft of the Bill. In addition the wife as dependent will be able to obtain the pension after the holder’s death. Previously this was allowed only to disabled dependents and even then only 60% of the capital sum was given.

The Pension Bill was initially tabled before Parliament on 27 April but was postponed after a petition was filed against it in the Supreme Court.

However last week it was decided that the Pension Bill is not unconstitutional and the verdict was presented to the Speaker. Parallel to these developments trade unions met President Mahinda Rajapaksa and presented their views resulting in a National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) meeting. At the discussion, officials of the Finance Ministry including Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera listened to the issues raised by the stakeholders and agreed to make amendments to the Pension Bill.