BARGAINING COUNCIL

[Talisman]

Hi All,

I would like to find out if the Bargaining Council can force our company to use a service provider for a Provident Fund if we already have a service provider and our Provident Fund is active?

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

[Dave A]

You can apply to the Bargaining Council concerned for an exemption from that requirement. What will be assessed is whether your benefit scheme is an improvement on the Bargaining Council's scheme.

[Talisman]

Hi

Thank you kindly - the problem is that the Bargaining Council is forcing me to go with another Broker surely that cannot be correct?

[Dave A]

It might well be correct.

The devil is in the details of the comparison. I've looked at a few such exemption applications in the Electrical Contracting industry space, and I have to say in each instance the "retail market" solutions the companies were seeking to go with did not stack up well against the bargaining council solution they were seeking to stay away from. I'm not suggesting that applies in your instance, but I can confirm the situation can (and does) arise.

Anyhow, if you've made an application for exemption and it has been turned down, there has to be an appeal process in terms of the LRA - so you can appeal the decision. I do suggest you take an objective look at the numbers comparison though. My experience is most people assume the bargaining council scheme is inefficient and their scheme is better rather than take a hard look at the numbers first.

[Rifrug]

So I was contacted by someone who told me there is money for me that is with the bargaining council from about 7 years ago. He could not say how much it is, so for me to get this money they need:
1. certified copy of my ID.
2. Proof of address
3. Letter from bank with banking details.
4. Some more papers that I could not remember as this was on the phone no e-mail correspondence that to me was dodgy.
This to me is a problem as I need to take a day’s leave to do all this for maybe R50.00 or falling trap to a fishing scam that will empty my bank account. I did not do as as was requested by this man.
Has anybody have a similar request with any success in this regard?

[Dave A]

There are a number of active campaigns to track down beneficiaries of unclaimed benefits at the various benefit funds of the NBCEI, so the approach may be genuine. There are some contact details in the link I provided.

If you are currently contributing to one of the funds, they shouldn't really need your bank account details - the benefit can be transferred to your current contribution profile (called a section 14B transfer, which would prove the most tax efficient means of realising the claim).

[AmithS]

@Talisman

Dave A is correct some bargaining councils prescribe a certain service provider for provident funds and you can apply for an exemption.

I would firstly confirm the person you are speaking with is indeed from the bargaining council and also contact the bargaining council to confirm the service provider in question as well as exemption process.
Explain how long you have been with your current provider and the difficultly in changing providers now from one fund to another...

Also check with other businesses in the same area and industry if everything adds up...
or post you industry and bargaining council on here and maybe someone can advise...

[Rifrug]

@AmithS
I have been paying moneys for bargaining council since I left the one company about 7 years ago, I joined another company for another 4 years, also contributing. I am now again with a third company for two years and contributing again. I see my statements do not reflect the contributions made from before 2018. That means they do not have a system that can determine a person has already been a bargaining council member previously and these funds should just roll over to the next employer. There seems to be a admin part that does not add up in their system and they then have to get tracers to try and track contributors down. It took them 7years to track me down although my address and phone numbers have not changed the last 15years which they should still have from my first contribution date back in 2012’s. Unfortunately everybody is bullied to be members of such schemes that are operating for their own interest with contributors funds. I do not trust them with my funds if they do not know I am a contributor.

[Dave A]

I have been paying moneys for bargaining council since I left the one company about 7 years ago, I joined another company for another 4 years, also contributing. I am now again with a third company for two years and contributing again. I see my statements do not reflect the contributions made from before 2018. That means they do not have a system that can determine a person has already been a bargaining council member previously and these funds should just roll over to the next employer. There seems to be a admin part that does not add up in their system and they then have to get tracers to try and track contributors down.

Rifrug, the admin system at the NBCEI is currently undergoing a significant revamp. I trust you are comfortable with me forwarding your point to the powers that be to ensure the new IT system identifies the issue automatically and initiates a process towards resolving it.

[Rifrug]

Hi Dave A
Thanks for the reply, you are more than welcome to forward my experience to them. I doubt I’m the only one with this issue, there must be hundreds if not thousands of workers in this same scenario.