By Mc Pherse Thompson, Staff ReporterThe trustees of the Air Jamaica pension fund are continuing to hold discussions with a view to arriving at an agreement on the total surplus to be paid over to the management body for allocation to former employees.
"The negotiation involves a second party so it's hard for us to give a deadline," according to vice-president of CIBC Trust & Merchant Bank and a member of the trustees, Raymond Campbell in response to a question as to how soon the negotiations were expected to be completed.
Mr. Campbell said the trustees have made a claim on the Government and once an agreement was reached, the payments would be made.
He explained that at the same time that discussions were being held, the trustees were putting together information on the entitlement of each former Air Jamaica employee based on their contributions to the pension fund over the 25 years between 1969 and 1994.
Some beneficiaries were said to have become impatient with the long wait to get the money and had expressed doubt about the payment, but Mr. Campbell said that as soon as they received the funds from the Government they would inform the former employees.
Many of the those beneficiaries have rang the Gleaner seeking a time frame as to when an announcement as to settlement payments will be made.
In February, the trustees said they had made a preliminary determination of the total surplus expected to be paid, and in March said they would be sending those figures to the Ministry of Finance and Planning for verification.
The payments due arose out of a dispute between Air Jamaica, the Attorney General's Department and former employees of Air Jamaica as to who should benefit from the surplus in the pension fund.
In 1994, when the national airline was sold, the Government, on behalf of Air Jamaica, had pledged the $400 million surplus to the new purchaser, Air Jamaica Acquisition Group. The pledge was made as part of the current assets of the old company.
However, the former workers took the matter to court contending that they were entitled to the surplus in the fund. Subsequently, the Judicial Committee of the United Kingdom Privy Council ruled that the surplus should be divided between Air Jamaica and its former workers. The Privy Council also ordered that the surplus of the contributions paid by members be repaid to the trustees along with compound interest at the rate of 29 per cent per annum.
In July 2000, the Supreme Court appointed CIBC Trust & Merchant Bank, represented by Mr. Campbell, as a trustee of the pension fund, along with former employees Joy Charlton and Ian Blair.
About 1,000 workers are expected to benefit from the surplus, which, together with interest is estimated at about $1 billion, and has to be funded by the Government. The role of the trustees is to demand payment from the Government, manage the fund and make the necessary distributions to the former workers.
