‘Engineers syndicate working on new proposal to boost pension fund’

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) is studying a new proposal for the syndicate’s pension fund after its members rejected a previous plan to boost the fund’s revenue, said JEA President Majid Tabba. 

The association’s initial plan, based on an actuarial study, proposed increasing subscription fees to the pension fund, to delay the point at which the fund’s expenditure equals its income from pension subscriptions and investment profits. 

That plan was met with criticism by syndicate members, who accused the association of resorting to their pockets without trying to increase the fund’s investment revenues. 

Members also accused the JEA of diverting money from the syndicate’s pension fund.

“The new suggestion under study will strengthen the fund and preserve the members’ contributions,” Tabba told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Wednesday.

The proposed plan will be shared with JEA members once finalised, he said, without specifying a date. 

Syndicate member Raed Haddadin told The Jordan Times that any new suggestion is a violation to the JEA Law because the general assembly has not yet received an official reply from the Public Works Ministry regarding the previous proposal. 

“The general assembly rejected the previous suggestion because it depended on the engineers’ pockets and did not follow a clear and transparent policy,” he charged, adding that the general assembly rejected both the initial proposition, which sought to increase pension subscription fees by 400 per cent, and a second that proposed a 100 per cent increase.

Engineers are only willing to pay higher pension subscription fees if the JEA’s council admits to previous mistakes, claimed Haddadin, who is also vice president of the civil engineering unit at the JEA. 

He reiterated the call on the JEA council to intensity efforts to create investment projects, in fields of alternative energy and education, in order to increase income to the pension fund.

The JEA has 130,000 members, 40,000 of whom work abroad.