NUPGE deals with major pension issues facing workers

Pensions working session puts focus on key issues and challenges

Ottawa - (24 November 2006) - Several of the key issues and challenges facing Canada's pension system were addressed by union leadership activists from across the country at a Pensions Working Session sponsored by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) earlier this week.

Decline in workplace pension coverage

One of the main themes of the session dealt with what the National Union describes as the 'real pensions crisis' in Canada, the alarming decline in pension coverage for new members of the workforce. NUPGE Secretary-Treasurer Larry Brown presented a recent research study published by the National Union entitled No Pension Panic: The real pensions crisis - it's all about coverage, not funding, which reveals that the percentage of the Canadian workforce covered by a pension plan has declined from 45.1% in 1992 to 39.9% in 2003. The study notes that if this trend continues it's going to place increased pressure on our public pension system as the primary source of income for a growing proportion of Canadian seniors.

This theme was also reinforced by pensions expert Bob Baldwin who gave a presentation on current issues and problems facing workplace pensions in Canada. He noted that over one-third of the Canadian workforce is now employed in contingent work and it's estimated that only 15% of these workers participate in a workplace pension. Baldwin is the former research director of the Canadian Labour Congress and was recently appointed by the Ontario government to an 'expert commission' charged with reviewing the province's pension system and determining the best way to ensure that members and retirees have pensions they can count on in the future.

Major pension reform in the U.K.

Participants also were given an overview of the major reform of the public pension system in the U.K. Glyn Jenkins, Head of the Pensions Unit of UNISON, provided participants with details of what is considered to be the most radical overhaul of the U.K. pensions system since the introduction of the welfare state. As a result of the reform, U.K. spending on state pensions will be raised from 6.3% of GDP to around 7.4% by 2050. But to pay for it, the government will gradually raise the retirement age to 68 and link pension benefits with earnings. Under the plan, the retirement age will be raised from 65 to 66 in 2024; to 67 in 2034 and 68 in 2044.

New edition of Pensions Manual

Derek Fudge, NUPGE's policy development director provided participants with an overview of the NUPGE publication, The Pensions Manual, which is currently being revised and updated and will be released as a third edition in February 2007. The Pensions Manual, one of NUPGE's most popular publications, is an 'easy to use, everything you wanted to know' guide about pensions and retirement from a union perspective. The manual is widely used by Components as a valuable tool to educate activists in the field of pensions. The revised publication will contain over twenty sections on a variety of pension topics.

Pension Investment

Another session looked at the need for substantial investment in Canada's public infrastructure, and the pressure to raise the investment capital required through Public Private Partnerships (P3s). Pension funds are being eyed as sources of P3 investment capital, and it is clear that using public sector pension funds to invest in P3s is contrary to the best interests of plan members and contrary to the public interest. The group considered possible alternative approaches to this pressing issue that could protect the viability of public services and programs, along with the employment, benefits and working conditions of the workers who deliver those services and programs. NUPGE