Jamaica Tourism Workers’ Pension Bill to be debated May 21

The long-awaited Jamaica Tourism Workers’ Pension Bill is one step closer to becoming a reality. This as Jamaica Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the pension bill will be debated on May 21.

The Bill, which was tabled in the House of Representatives on April 30, when passed, will establish a defined pension scheme for tourism workers and self-employed tourism workers to be known as the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme, from which is to be paid retirement benefits in respect of each member and ancillary benefits for beneficiaries.

“After we have completed the debate, the bill will go to the Senate and the Governor General puts his assent on it, everybody who works in the sector, no matter the category or contract period, will have an equal opportunity to become a member of this pension plan.

When our workers become eligible at sixty-five, they will have a minimum pension of two hundred thousand dollars,” said Minister Bartlett.

The new pension bill will start with an endowment of $1 billion from the Ministry of Tourism, which will be paid in installments and will ensure that immediate benefits accrue to qualified pensioners who have met the vested period of five years.

“I am truly pleased that my ministry is one step closer to establishing a bill that will be a game changer for the sector. For so long, our workers have dedicated their lives to improving the sector without any social security at the end of their tenure and this bill will change that,” added Minister Bartlett.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944