PSA DAILY-RATED EMPLOYEES' GRATUITY SCHEME

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Ho See Beng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour if he will request the Port of Singapore Authority (i) to consider transferring the moneys standing to the credit of employees under the PSA Daily-rated Employees Gratuity Scheme, which has been frozen since 1st July, 1980, to their accounts in the Central Provident Fund; and (ii) to issue to each of these employees a statement of the amount standing to his credit at the freezing of the Gratuity Scheme.

Mr Ho See Beng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour whether he is aware (i) that there are 400 to 450 Container Wharf monthly-rated employees of the Port of Singapore Authority who, on their promotion from daily-rated employees in 1973, were informed that the PSA Daily-rated Gratuity Scheme would be replaced by the Central Provident Fund scheme, and (ii) that the Gratuity Scheme fund has been kept by the management and no statements of account of the amounts standing to their credit have been received by those employees; and if he will ask the PSA to consider transferring the moneys in the funds to the individual accounts of the employees in the CPF and issuing to them statements of account relating to the amounts standing to their credit.

Mr Ho See Beng (Khe Bong): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I seek your permission to ask Questions 1 and 2 at the same time because apart from the fact that Question 1 concerns the daily-rated employees and the other concerns monthly-rated employees, the contents of the Questions are identical.

Mr Speaker: Yes, if the Minister would answer both questions together.

The Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour (Mr Ong Teng Cheong): Yes, Sir.

Mr Ho See Beng: Questions 1 and 2, Sir.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the PSA Daily-rated Employees Gratuity Scheme is a form of pension scheme inherited from the Singapore Harbour Board. This scheme applies only to daily-rated employees who joined PSA service before 1970. At the same time, these employees have also been placed on the CPF scheme since the inception of the Central Provident Fund.

In 1980, PSA and the Singapore Port-workers' Union agreed that all PSA dailyrated employees should be placed on the CPF scheme only and that the Daily-rated Employees Gratuity Scheme for those who joined PSA before 1970 should be frozen as from 1st July, 1980. At the request of the Union, each daily-rated employee who had the gratuity benefit frozen was given a statement on 31st May, 1981, indicating the estimated amount which they would receive on retirement, provided that he is at least 45 years old and has at least 10 years of continuous service. These moneys are only indicative of what these employees may receive upon retirement. They will not be entitled to these moneys if they do not fulfil the conditions stipulated in the regulations governing the payment of gratuity when they leave the service. It is, therefore, not proper to transfer these moneys to their accounts in the Central Provident Fund.

As regards the second question, only daily-rated employees are eligible for the Daily-rated Employees Gratuity Scheme. Daily-rated employees who were promoted to monthly-rated posts would cease to be on the Scheme as from the date of promotion. The moneys standing to the credit of these employees were frozen on the date of promotion and will be paid to them upon their retirement provided the conditions for gratuity payment are fulfilled. The amount payable will be based on the duration of their service as daily-rated employees.

There are 442 PSA employees under this category, of which 276 are container port workers. As explained in the answer to the first question raised by the hon. Member, it is not proper for PSA to transfer the moneys standing to their credit to their accounts in the Central Provident Fund.

No statements of account have been issued to these employees as no one has requested for them. It appears from the question by the Member for Khe Bong that there is an interest in these statements. I am, therefore, asking the PSA to send these statements to all the employees involved.