NUPGE releases two new Pensions Backgrounders

Legislative Framework Governing Pensions. How Pensions are Funded.

Ottawa (29 Jan. 2008) –The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has released the seventh and eighth in its series of Pensions Backgrounders.

The publications are designed for union activists seeking educational material to build their knowledge base and skill level around critical issues in the field of pensions.

Legislative Framework Governing Pensions provides an overview of federal and provincial pension standards legislation and the federal Income Tax Act which regulates the terms and operations of the over 14,000 registered pension plans in Canada.

How Pensions are Funded outlines in general terms the complex process involved in the financial management of pension plans, especially defined benefit plans. It describes the mechanics, various approaches and concepts used to determine the level of contributions and how they are invested in order to secure future promised benefits. The backgrounder explains many of the key concepts in pension funding such as actuarial evaluations, mortality factor and solvency issues.

The first six backgrounders in the series were released in 2007. All are available free at the web links below. They are:

? Pensions Are Important
? A Brief History of Pensions in Canada
? An Overview of Canada’s Public Pension System
? Private Retirement Savings
? How Much Pension will an Individual Need?
? Workplace Pension Plans

Third backgrounder revised

The third backgrounder in the series, An Overview of Canada’s Public Pension System, has also been revised. Information in this backgrounder contains benefit rates for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) as well as the important ‘Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings’ (YMPE) rate. YMPE refers to the maximum earnings from employment on which CPP contributions and benefits are calculated. Each of these rates were increased as of January 2008 based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The revised backgrounder contains the new January 2008 rates.

A section of the National Union website entitled, NUPGE and Pensions, contains many of the NUPGE pension publications as well as news stories on pension issues from across Canada and around the world. The National Union also produces a regular Pensions E-Bulletin containing the top pensions news stories from its website. For those who are interested in subscribing to our Pensions E-Bulletin, please e-mail national@nupge.ca.

NUPGE

NUPGE is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

More information:

? 2008 benefit rates increases for OAS, GIS and CPP
? # 1 – Pensions are Important - pdf
? # 2 – A Brief History of Pensions in Canada - pdf
? # 3 – An Overview of Canada's Public Pension System - pdf
? # 4 – Private Retirement Savings - pdf
? # 5 – How Much Pension will an Individual Need – pdf
? # 6 – Workplace Pension Plans – pdf
? # 7 – Legislative Framework Governing Pensions – pdf
? # 8 – How Pensions are Funded – pdf

(Published as n29ja08a.htm)