By Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
THE MINISTRY of Labour and Social Security has warned of "definitive action" being taken against the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) for its failure to pay up the nearly $50 million deducted from employees' salaries for the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) scheme.
Alvin McIntosh, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, says they have been trying in vain for months to arrange a meeting with the management of the SCJ so that an amicable agreement could be reached.
"We are not getting any co-operation and I don't take kindly to these things," he said. "I find that kind of attitude very disgusting and frustrating."
According to Mr. McIntosh, his team from the Ministry was assembled and ready on numerous occasions for discussions with the management of SCJ on how best to settle the millions of NIS dollars deducted from staff members and not paid over.
"The last meeting fell through, not because of any fault of the Ministry. The SCJ team called at the last minute to say they could not make it," said Mr. McIntosh. "This matter should not be treated with scant disrespect".
Repeated attempts by The Sunday Gleaner over several weeks to contact Livingstone Morrison, the SCJ's president and chief executive officer, and Ashton Smith, vice-president of finance of the SCJ to speak
on this matter have been
unsuccessful.
MEETINGS
Over the last three months, the Ministry has tried at least six times to have meetings with the SCJ management to sort out payment terms.
"It's an obligation. The contributions remitted must be contributed to the funds," said Mr. McIntosh. "When the time comes for people to get their pensions, we have to make sure we have the funds in place to pay. We cannot say to the pensioners that we were not able to collect."
However, the Ministry says it will make another attempt at a meeting before seeking to have the matter addressed by the courts. The Ministry's decision not to go to court has not been endorsed however by a former employee of the SCJ.
Jerome Palmer, a former overseer at the Long Pond Division of the SCJ in Trelawny, who claimed to have been wrongfully dismissed and is currently in court over the issue, plans another lawsuit against the SCJ after he discovered that his NIS deductions were not paid.
"I remember someone (former worker) being injured and couldn't get any benefits, so I decided that when I leave I will have to check on my NIS benefits," he said.
PAYMENT
Mr. Palmer, who worked with the SCJ from 1999 to 2002, said when he checked with the Ministry, only the first year's payment was made.
Attorney-at-law, Franklyn Jackson representing Mr. Palmer, said if the company was not in a position to pay, then he would have to sue the directors.
In May 2003, the House of Representatives approved a guarantee for a 90 million-euro (US$104 million) loan to support the struggling sugar industry.
Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, had called for an audit of the SCJ, to give the public the satisfaction that the company was spending public funds efficiently.
Mr. Shaw argued that this was important against the background of massive losses that the Government-run estates continued to suffer each year.
The Government has written off more than $500 million to cane farmers and during the course of last year made available some $150 million in cane replanting loans for the sector.
In 1993 a consortium made up of J. Wray & Nephew Ltd., Manufacturers Investments Ltd., and Booker Tate Ltd. formed the SCJ. The company purchased the assets of Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge sugar estates which together represent some 65 per cent of the capacity of the sugar industry.
However, in 1998 Government purchased the company, and set out to turn around its finances. Despite this, the company continued to run up huge debts.
