ARCHIVES / PENSION PLAN

Project Bill 68 progressive retirement, Consensus in Québec

Wednesday April 2 2008,

The Québec government presented the project Bill 68 modifying the law on complementary pension plan, Québec pension plan and other legislative dispositions to allow the workers a progressive retirement without penalty to their pension plan.

The minister hopes that the project Bill will come in force January 1 2009.

Michel Arsenault, president of the QFL welcomed the initiative of the minister of Employment and Social security to encourage to uphold the jobs in the private sector « It is important for workers retired that want to come back to work, or desire to stay in employment after 55, to be able to do so without penalty to their pension plan. More important that tyhose workers will be able to transmit their experience to the young generation », declared Michel Arsenault.

The bullet points :

The project applies only to companies in the privatesector under provincial jurisdiction that fill these conditions :

- A negotiated intent with the employer ;

- The participant must be at least 60 or, 55 and have the right to is pension without penalty ;

- He is aged of 65 ;

- The annual pension most not exceed 60% of the annual amount of pension that he is allowed.

Some questions for the Business Representatives organizers what would be at stake in negotiations

Is there an interest for our members and for our Local Lodges? If yes

- Who satisfies the admissible criteria's? is it a annual renewal ?

- What will be the reduction of work hours : reduction of weekly hours or extended vacations ?

- The progressive retirement will be limited to a determine period 5 years or 2 years that the participant should retire ?

- How will the replacement or affectations will be managed ?

Pension plan :

What will be the allowance that could be given by the pension plan (under reserve of fiscal ceiling)

- The equivalent 100% of the income of lost of salary ?

- The equivalent of a percentage (ex: 70%) of lost of salary?

- What will the formula of years of services during the progressive retirement ?

- What will be the calculation of the pension at the moment of living for retirement ?

Social advantages :

Will their be an impact on social advantages by taking a progressive retirement?

- Vacations

- Sickness

- Insurance plan : as life insurance, wage insurance, medication insurance, etc.

NOTE. The anticipated date that he Bill will come in affect is January 1 2009. It could have some modifications. There is no information session scheduled.

a file to follow.

For more information :

Léo Giuliani
IAMAW Auditor
Representative Pension Plan for the IAMAW

The Fonds de Solidarité announces investments
and record efficiency

You have a defined benefits Pension Plan? Do not fall in the trap set by your Employer

The business is going good for the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, at many chapters as known a year record.

Record for efficiency . Record for investment in Quebec enterprises.

«It is the biggest year never accomplished at the Fonds de solidarité since 23 years, meanly since its debut », was happy to say Yvon Bolduc the new President general director, at the annual meeting to present the results of investment and the value of the shares.

More precisely , the net benefit for the exercise that as ended last May 31 reached 366M$ comparatively to 271M$ for the exercise ending May 31 2005.

The efficiency of the fonds of workers passed from 5 to 6%.

The fonds also invested in 181 Quebec enterprises a record of 643M$, indicated the Canadian Press.

In this context, the Fonds de solidarité PGD made aware that the fonds shares will pass to 23,74 $, an increase of 1,33 $ compared to May 31 of last year . «It is a big progression», commented M. Bolduc.

He warns that the fonds will most likely do as good for the 2006-2007exercise, since the 2005-2006 exercise marked records high.

Source : Webfin ARGENT

To know more visit the Fonds de solidarité FTQ web site : www.fondsftq.com

To adhere to the Fonds de solidarité FTQ at all times with weekly automatic withholding on your salary.

Jean-Léo Coté
President Director
Business Representative

All employers are dreaming of convincing their workforce to accept to modify their defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution pension plan.

In order to get rid of your pension plan, they might try to soften you up by proposing certain immediate improvements and, at the same time, force your Union to lock the doors of the defined benefit regime to all future workers by imposing to them only, a defined contribution plan. These future workers would then have no other choice but to be satisfied with a less than generous pension plan.

The actual defined benefit plan not receiving any new money would age rapidly and become so costly for your employer in wages percentage for those still in the actual plan that it would become impossible to negotiate any improvements.

To accept any such modifications means freezing forever the plan and its actual level.

And even if, someday, we would want to improve the plan, we could not count on the new workforce for support because they would remember the discrimination of which they were victims of before their employment and would rather try to improve their plan which will be less generous than the plan of the older workforce.

Result: two bad pension plans and a divided Union. All will be losers!

The IAM is against these modifications.

The entire Labour Force is against modifications to defined benefit pension plans.

That is why the IAM stands up and refuses to even present to its members any offer which contains demands to modify your defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan.