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Division of Co-operatives Look's at Gratuity Scheme for Fishers
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Division of Co-operatives Look's at Gratuity Scheme for Fishers
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Contact:
John
Emmanuel Monday, May 14,
2001
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The Division of Co-operatives of the Ministry of Community Development has begun
examining a number of strategies aimed at improving the welfare of fishers on
the island. Registrar
of Co-operatives Lucius Ellevic says the measures, in the first instance, will
involve the institutional strengthening of fishermen’s co-operatives around
the country. Another initiative will centre on the development of a much talked
about gratuity scheme for fishers. According
to Ellevic the present lifestyle of a fisherman suggests that when they are no
longer able to go to sea they do not seem able to generate any other source of
income. “We’re thinking that by using co-operatives as the facilitating
mechanism, we can establish a gratuity scheme for fishermen. In this regard,
we’re seeking assistance from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation
to carryout a feasibility study on how we can actually go about setting up that
initiative,” he said. Ellevic
says although the idea has been mooted in the past albeit under a different
name, that of a pension scheme put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture to
benefit farmers, the Division of Co-operatives remains convinced that its latest
efforts will not fall by the wayside, as did the others.
He
suggests that the important difference between what has been tried in the past
and this current initiative lies in the proposed contributions beneficiaries
would have to make to the scheme. Whereas
in the past, farmers for example, were required to fund their pensions by
contributing a percentage of their earnings per pound of bananas or what ever
they produced to a pension scheme, in the new arrangement it is proposed that
the cooperatives either match the contributions to be made by the fishers or put
in 100% of the amount. One way of facilitating this, Ellevic says, is through the setting up of common pool funded by surpluses generated through the efforts of all fishermen doing business via the cooperatives. The logistics of the initiative he says are still being worked out and a formalized plan is to be presented to fishers for their comments before year’s end. |
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