Hotel Industry Retirement Fund
The long term welfare of the employees in the hotel industry is a primary concern to both employers and the Antigua Workers Union. The lack of any real financial provision for hotel workers upon retirement has been of great concern for many years. Many persons have given a life time to the industry with nothing to show for it upon reaching the stage where they could work no longer except for their social security benefits. As far back as 1992 hoteliers and the Antigua Workers Union recognized that this had to change. Intervening events and hurricanes delayed further discussions until the last Collective Agreement signed in 2007 made provision for the introduction of a retirement plan and the establishment of a retirement age of 60 years. The implementation was originally planned for January 2009 but due to the financial meltdown of late 2008 both parties agreed to postpone this for one year.
After much discussion with the various banks offering thrift funds and related products we are pleased to announce the introduction of the Hotel Industry Retirement Fund that will be placed with ABI Bank. This fund takes the form of a thrift plan for all employees working in hotels covered by the Collective Agreement between the AHTA and the AWU. Initially the fund will cover workers from around 25 hotels and is expected to benefit over 1500 persons. The fund will be administered by a Board of 9 Trustees composed of representatives from the A.H.T.A, the A.W.U., the participating hotels and the employees.
From February 1st all the workers in the plan will contribute 2.5% of their base salary into the thrift fund. The hotel will match this amount dollar for dollar so that a total of 5% of base salary is placed into the retirement fund for each contributor. The fund will be invested in the best interest of the employee by the trustees of the fund but in its initial stages the bank has guaranteed a fixed 6% return on the accounts. The emphasis of this plan is to provide for the workers upon retirement so only in specific circumstances will funds be allowed to be withdrawn or used as collateral.
At the age of sixty the workers will now be entitled to the amounts deducted from their payroll and the amounts deposited on their behalf by their employer with all the interest gained.
One of the great advantages of this plan is the fact that workers can now move between hotels and carry their fund with them guaranteeing them a retirement nest egg wherever they may decide to work. For example a worker from Jolly Beach can now leave to go to Cocobay without fear of loosing his retirement contributions.
In special cases the employees may use a portion of the balance in their fund as collateral against loans taken out with the bank but only in very specific cases who will be offering preferential rates. We want to avoid employees reaching retirement with their nest egg tied up to covering loans that have been taken out previously. The portion available for use as collateral has been limited to 50% of the employee’s contributions to the fund.
As an added advantage the ABI Financial group is offering substantial reductions on both car insurance and property insurance to all plan participants. Other advantages may be in the pipeline as the fund gets under way.
For further information: Neil Forrester
Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association
Tel: (268)462.0374
Neil@antiguahotels.org
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