Letter to CUPW Retirees regarding Pension and Benefits 2011

 Dear Sisters and Brothers,  

In recent weeks there have been media horror stories about the crisis engulfing pension plans across this country.

These stories strongly suggest that CUPW retirees under the Canada Post Pension Plan will need to participate in the struggle to defend our pensions and retiree benefits as well as to ensure our children and grandchildren can look forward to a retirement free of poverty.

Each passing day adds new evidence of the depth of the crisis—Nortel employees and others losing hope of receiving the full pension and benefits they worked for due to bankruptcies and underfunding, newspaper accounts revealing 60% of the workforce (11 million men and women with no pension plans at all, articles showing that of workers who have pension plans, only 4.5 million (16%) have defined benefit pensions guaranteeing retirees pension incomes.

Worse, employers have embarked on a campaign to substitute defined contribution pension plans (which do not guarantee retirement incomes) for defined benefit plans and reduce retiree benefits in order to maintain or increase profits.  Defined contribution pension plans are subject to the fluctuations of the stock market.  They do not provide a secure future for retirees. Corporate strategy during the global recession, supported by government, is to convince workers without the so-called “gold-plated” defined benefit pensions that workers with them have asked for far too much--and now all must accept much less. Public sector workers are not immune to this attack, municipally, provincially or federally.

On October 26, 2009, Canada Post Corporation made clear that it has joined the assault.  Setting its sights on the non-unionized management and exempt employees, it announced that those hired as of January 1, 2010 will have the defined benefit pension plan replaced by a defined contribution plan.  Further, management and exempt employees retiring as of January 1st, 2011 will have the current health care benefit plan replaced with an insured plan ultimately to be paid 100% by the retired employee.

But some of the measures announced by CPC take aim at the CUPW and other bargaining units, most notably the decision that all employees, including unionized workers hired by CPC as of November 1st, 2009 will pay 100% of the premiums for their Retiree Dental Plan. 

The signal is clear.  At the minimum, CPC wishes to construct a two-tier pension and retiree benefits system to deprive young workers of the benefit levels we enjoy. At worst, along with other employers, it is gearing up for a frontal assault on the benefits we all fought to achieve.  We can’t assume that others will fight to maintain these benefits if we don’t show our determination to do so.

Workers retiring after September 2003 have already experienced the CPC reducing its portion of the post-retirement Extended Health Care Plan (EHCP) contribution (section 30.03).  As CPC expands its efforts to claw-back benefits, CUPW retirees can contribute to the defense of union pensions and retiree benefits as well as to the struggle for legislation to extend these benefits to all retirees.

A window has opened for CPC retirees to make important contributions in this fight around the negotiations of 2011 and in the larger struggle for decent pensions now being organized by the Canadian Labour Congress and the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC).

The CUPW National Executive Board (NEB) has declared that retirees must be an essential part of the fight to defend our pension and benefit standards in the 2011 Collective Agreement.The NEB is also encouraging all CUPW retirees to become involved in the CLC-led political campaign to greatly increase the CPP, QPP and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and to create and reform legislation regulating pension funds and governance.

Since the NEB is supporting us, the opportunity now exists for retirees to show their support for the NEB initiative.Here is what we can do to get the process started:

• If you would like to be part of a national information network around CUPW retiree issues, send your name, address, email address (if applicable) and the CUPW Local you are from to CUPW Retirees, CUPW National Office (email address retirees-retraites@cupw-sttp.org or mail address 377 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1Y3). Regional and Local offices will be informed as well, so you can keep abreast of events and activities of CUPW and the Labour Movement in your area.
• Become active in, or participate in building Local Pension and Retiree Benefit Committees in line with section 9.23 of the CUPW National Constitution.
• Begin thinking about demands geared to defending our pension and benefits in the 2011 round of collective bargaining. It is important to know that under our current Constitution, demands around collective bargaining must be adopted by Local General Membership meetings to be sent up to Regional Conferences. The Regional Conferences will occur in June, 2010, so Locals must complete their decisions on wage and contract demands by May 1st, 2010.

We encourage you to work with us to maintain a secure future.