THE SUGAR Company of Jamaica (SCJ) has not made any payments to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) for several years, with arrears now at nearly $50 million.
"They owe us millions of dollars and the bottom line is that we really need to collect from these people," a senior officer at the NIS office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed with The Sunday Gleaner.
According to the officer, every time a visit or telephone call is made to the SCJ's office, Livingstone Morrison, president and chief executive officer, and Ashton Smith, vice-president of finance, are either in a meeting or not there.
When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the Bernard Lodge Division, Mr. Smith, would only say, "No comment."
However, Alvin McIntosh, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said he could not give any details at this time "as we are having a meeting next week with them to discuss the matter."
Trade unionist Vincent Morrison, vice-president of the National Workers Union (NWU), which represents the workers, and also a board member of the same Sugar Company of Jamaica, said he was not aware of the problem but suggested that this kind of non-payment would have an adverse effect on the workers in the long run.
"If you don't pay over the workers' benefits it is going to be a problem at some stage," he said.
He cited access to National Housing Trust (NHT) benefits among some of the long-term problems. "But we are going to do our own investigations to get them to deal with the matter as quickly as possible."
The Sugar Company of Jamaica was formed in November 1993 by a consortium made up of J. Wray & Nephew, Manufacturers Investments Ltd and Booker Tate Ltd.
The three companies each held 17 per cent equity in SCJ, with the remaining 49 per cent being held by the Government of Jamaica.
