Israel pension agreement guarantees pensions access for all

In what is being termed asan “historic moment” by industry and business leaders, Shraga Brosh,president of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, and Ofer Eini,chairman of the Histadrut Labor Federation, signed an agreement onThursday guaranteeing that beginning next year all of the country’sworkers will have pension plans.  “An agreement like this has never before been signed in thehistory of the country,” said Brosh. “At the end of the day, employerswill have to pay more to the employees, but they will do so trustingthat this is the best way to support all of the country’s workers andto allow them to live properly even after retiring.”  According to the agreement, beginning in January 2008 employeeswho have been working at the same company for at least nine months willbe immediately eligible to start receiving payments into their pensionplans, beginning with allocations of 2.5 percent of their monthlysalary, with this number increasing to 5% in 2009, 7.5% in 2010, 10% in2011, 12.5% in 2012 and 15% in 2013.  The agreement additionally stipulated that workers will be ableto place the money either into a straight pension fund, a trust fund ora patient fund.

Full story:  Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766016845&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull