The CLC proposes to double CPP benefits on a pre-funded basis over a 7 year phase in period during which combined employer/employee CPP contributions as a percentage of salary would rise from 4.95% in 2009 to 7.7% in 2016.

The additional 2.75% of payroll going into to the CPP under the CLC proposal would produce impressive results as the average earnings replaced by the CPP would effectively double to a maximum of $1,635 per month (in 2009 dollars).

The CLC is also proposing to increase the GIS to ensure that no Canadian senior lives in poverty and to establish a national pension insurance program to protect wage earners’ workplace pension benefits from being shredded when employers go out of business, or file for bankruptcy or seek court protection from their creditors.

The CLC campaign is timely; especially when the current retirement income system in Canada is examined closely. Following is a snap shot of the retirement income system in Canada although it is probably more appropriate to call it a patch work.

The majority of Canadians rely on a pension system comprised of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

The current maximum CPP benefit (2009) is $908.75. However the average monthly benefit is $501.32 (May 2009).

The current maximum OAS benefit (May 2009) is $516.96. The average monthly benefit is $489.53. Pensioners with an individual net income above $66,335/year must repay part or all of the maximum OAS pension amount with the OAS being eliminated all together when the pensioner’s net income is $107, 692.

The GIS program provides a maximum monthly benefit of $652.51. However, pensioners are not eligible for the GIS if their income or the combined income of them and their spouse reaches certain levels. For example, a single pensioner is not eligible for GIS if her/his income is $15,672/year or more. For a couple the income cut off for GIS eligibility is $20,688/year and for the spouse of a non pensioner the cut off is $37,584.

The third pillar of Canada’s pension system consists of work place pension plans. However, of the 15 million or so employed wage earners in Canada only 36 percent or 5.5 million are covered by a work place pension plan. This compares to 45 percent coverage in 1991.

The Summer 2009 edition of a Statistics Canada publication titled “Perspectives on Labour and Income” included an article called Shifting Pensions. The author of the article, Philippe Gougeon, compared how work place pension plans stacked up in 2006 compared to 1991.

What Mr. Gougeon found was that the coverage rate of work place pension plans had dropped from 45 percent in 1991 to 36 percent in 2006. What he also found was that the percentage of wage earners covered by a defined benefit work place pension plan (DB) had declined from 41 percent in 1991 to 30 percent in 2006.

In the same 16 year timeframe the percentage of wage earners covered by a defined contribution work place pension plan rose from 4 percent in 1991 to 6 percent in 2006.

But the real story is that 11 million Canadian wage earners do not have a workplace pension plan at all and the trend is not getting any better. Coupled with that disparity there is clear evidence that employers are responding to the solvency woes of defined benefit pension plans (DB plans) by exerting pressure to get out of DB pension plans in favour of DC plans or no plan at all.

In the public sector slightly more than 82 percent of employees are covered by a workplace pension plan whether DB or DC. In the private sector the story is quite different where only 1 in 5 workers participate in a workplace pension plan.

Now of course there is the fourth pillar of our pension patch work and that is the mighty RRSP whose marketers promise Canadians freedom at 55 and tell us we’re richer than we think.

The RRSP system is run by the financial industry and despite all of the hype about saving and investing wisely the average (median) RRSP for workers today aged 55 to 64 is $60,000 and only 31 percent of Canadians have any RRSP wealth.

When all of the information is put into perspective Canada has a big retirement income problem that is only going to get worse if we don’t take action now. You can find out more about the CLC Pension Campaign and how you can play a role by going to the website at www.canadianlabour.ca or by contacting GSU.

The Minister of Finance recently outlined proposed changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), starting in 2012, that will provide greater opportunities for individuals to collect pension benefits while still working.

Noteworthy changes include:

• Ability to apply for CPP even if you’re still working – A person who has attained age 60 can apply for CPP benefits even if he/she continues to work.

• Continued CPP participation while receiving benefits – A person under 65 who chooses to receive CPP benefits may continue working and thus continue to earn CPP benefits, but will be required to continue contributing to CPP.

• Change in calculating average career earnings – Certain years in which a person was attending university or was unemployed are not included in the average career earnings calculation that affects CPP benefits. The period of low earnings that may be dropped from the calculation will increase from 15% of the earnings period to 16% in 2012 and to 17% in 2014.

• Adjustment for early and postponed retirement – The reduction in benefits if CPP starts between age 60 and 65 will gradually be increased from 6% per year to 7.2% per year. The increase in benefits if CPP starts after age 65 will gradually be raised over a 3 year period from 6% per year to 8.4% per year.

If you are currently receiving CPP benefits or will begin receiving benefits before 2011, you will not be affected by these changes.

by: David Macaray, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Despite the economic gains India has made over the last 30 years, it’s important to note that its story, while impressive, is no glittering fairy tale. Although the country has made extraordinary progress, the notion that India is anywhere close to establishing even a fledgling “middle-class” is wildly farfetched. The reality of India is that poverty and misery continue to haunt the sub-continent. The reality is that 400 million Indians are illiterate, that universal rural electrification (promised to be in place by 1990) is still out of reach, that infant mortality rates and child malnutrition are alarming problems and that nonunion factory workers are still being exploited. Indeed, as more international pressure is brought to bear on Indian companies, more liberties are being taken with the industrial work force.

As for union workers, the case can be made that – cultural differences aside – India’s labor unions are almost identical in temperament and outlook to what American unions were 100 years ago. The Indian economy is robust, companies are expanding, manufacturing jobs are plentiful and entrepreneurial confidence is sky high – just as it was in the US a century ago. And just as it was in America a century ago, Indian unions are learning that, prosperity and rosy predictions notwithstanding, they have to fight and claw for every last nickel.

On November 5, a 45-day strike by 3,000 workers at Rico Automotive Industries in Haryana, a state in northern India, adjacent to Punjab (where I once lived), was called off by the AITUC (All-India Trade Union Congress). A settlement between Rico, AITUC and the Haryana state government was reached just hours before thousands of workers at other plants in what is called the “Gurgaon-Manesar corridor” were expected to hit the bricks in a sympathy strike in support of Rico workers. With the sprawling Gurgaon-Manesar corridor representing the heart of the country’s immense and rapidly growing automobile and motorcycle manufacturing sector, Haryana state has become the locus of union activism. Given their prodigious numbers, economic leverage and willingness to take on management, workers in the G-M corridor have the potential to become India’s UAW (United Auto Workers). The planned sympathy strike was a healthy sign of union solidarity – again, very reminiscent of what used to happen in the US prior to passage, in 1947, of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, outlawed jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes and secondary boycotts. Another healthy sign was the October 23 demonstration, where nearly 100,000 workers at 60-odd manufacturing plants in the G-M corridor walked off their jobs in a one-day protest of the murder of a Rico striker, a 25-year-old man allegedly killed by company assassins. One hundred thousand workers walking off their jobs! What an astounding show of solidarity!

Of course, as happens in contract negotiations, there were varying opinions and theories as to how effective the strike was. While Rico management and the Congress Party-led state government of Haryana boasted that they had not acceded to any “unreasonable” union demands, AITUC leadership depicted the strike as a success and the final offer as a victory for the union. While many strikers were pleased to be able to return to work, others were disappointed their union hadn’t held out for more. Among the issues not settled to their satisfaction were: a significant GWI (general wage increase), amnesty for miscreant strikers, further restrictions on the use of outside contractors and a unit clarification of AITUC’s status as bargaining representative. But “satisfactory” or not, the efficacy of a 45-day strike should not be minimized. Give the union credit for pulling it off. Forty-five days is a formidable strike, a respectable strike – whether it takes place in Haryana, India or Detroit, Michigan. In truth, shutdowns that last longer than two months risk evolving into mini-sieges; and sieges, no matter how “valid,” tend to warp everyone’s perspective. Rather than cast the strike as a life-or-death proposition, a prudent union (like AITUC) will stay out for a “meaningful” period of time, but no longer. Work stoppages are supposed to be tactical moves, not exercises in martyrdom. When it’s time to go back to work, you lick your wounds and go back to work…. and live to fight another day. Also, it’s not as if there wasn’t sufficient drama before the Rico strike was called off. Besides the one-day walkout in October and the planned sympathy strike on November 4, the day before the strike ended, Gurudas Dasgupta, the general-secretary of AITUC, was arrested by Haryana state police as he was set to address striking workers. His speech was to be the centerpiece of a fiery pep rally. Although Dasgupta remained in custody for only a few hours (upon being released, he was forced to leave the G-M corridor), his arrest is indicative of the volatility of the Haryana labor scene. Again, what happened with the Rico Automotive people evoked memories of what used to happen right here in the US during organized labor’s remarkable ascendancy. Yet, despite the vitality of the Indian labor movement there are ominous clouds on the horizon. While America’s early 20th century unions were able to take their cow to market – battling with management, politicians, special interests, goon squads, traitors, their own “weak sisters” – in the relative seclusion of an autonomous US economy, the Indians have no such luxury.

India is already a world player. Companies in Asia, the US, Europe and Australia all have vested interests in what happens in India, and, accordingly, will apply enormous pressure to protect those interests. Haryana’s vital G-M corridor is regularly tracked by Wall Street; India’s AITUC is on the computer screens of security companies around the world; and just as Harry Bridges was harassed by US feds during the 1930s and ’40s, Gurudas Dasgupta is clearly already in the Congress Party’s crosshairs.

Not to paint too grim a picture, but it’s only a matter of time before joint government-corporate interests seek to neutralize India’s unions. The stakes are simply too high. To international corporations relying on Indian output, the notion of a burgeoning, indigenous labor movement being allowed to freely test its strength is simply too dangerous. These joint interests will get the dirty job done through bribes and political maneuvers. Although it took government-corporate collusion many decades to finally tame America’s unions, with globalization having accelerated the process, these noble Indian unions could be reduced to puppet status within a few years. And that would be tragic.

The hostage-taking began with a first lockout on August 10, when workers protested the abusive treatment of a 22 year-old tea garden worker who was denied maternity leave and forced to continue work as a tea plucker despite being 8 months pregnant. On August 9, Mrs Arti Oraon collapsed in the field and was brought to the hospital, on a platform towed by a tractor, after the medical officer refused to make an ambulance available (he had proposed she be brought by bicycle). She was initially refused treatment, and only after her co-workers protested did she receive minimal care. Her treatment was inadequate and she had to be taken, by the same tractor, to the local government hospital one hour away.

To read more follow the link.

December 3, 2009 10:02 PM

REGINA — A union’s proposal that Saskatchewan workers under 21 get paid a lower minimum wage than older workers has sparked outrage from a provincial umbrella group for organized labour.

But the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) says its recent submission to the province’s minimum wage board must be looked at in its entirety, noting it calls for an overall increase in the minimum wage.

“We’re also suggesting that they raise the minimum wage significantly — by at least 63 cents,” said CLAC regional director Brad Bent, explaining the increase would be based on a more precise measurement of citizens’ ability to pay for household expenses that what is currently used.

He acknowledged the union also suggests the minimum wage rate be discounted by 10 per cent for young people, with CLAC contending it would encourage companies to hire young workers and also discourage early withdrawal from school.

“We want to ensure they’re getting the life skills, the work experience…not so they stay at a minimum wage but they gain that experience, that employers will employ them for that period of time, that they will have skills necessary then to move on to apprenticeship programs and skilled labour as a journeyperson or move into school,” Bent said.

“As an overall package we’re asking for a lot more money to be invested into the people of Saskatchewan.”

However, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, which does not count CLAC as a member, blasted the proposal, saying a provincial two-tier minimum wage would open the door to “unscrupulous employers” and exploit young workers.

Federation president Larry Hubich said it’s violation of workers’ rights to discriminate based on age, and noted many young workers face financial burdens such as school or expenses associated with starting a household.

“Any union that would advocate a reduction in the minimum wage in my view is not a real union. That’s a so-called union,” Hubich said.

The provincial minimum wage board reviews the minimum wage, currently set at $9.25 an hour, every two years.

Advanced Education, Employment and Labour Minister Rob Norris said he looks forward to receiving the board’s report, but that he doesn’t see moving to a system with different minimum wages based on age.

While CLAC is already stirring controversy, it doesn’t yet represent workers in Saskatchewan, although Bent said they are looking for opportunities. CLAC — criticized by groups such as the SFL as being company friendly — will be permitted to organize in Saskatchewan’s construction sector when the Saskatchewan Party government’s Bill 80, opposed by the NDP and trade unions in the province, passes next spring.

You can also read the GSU News here.

We extend our sincere condolences to Mike’s family and friends.

Click the link to visit the Notice for Michael Latta. link

• WEDNESDAY Local 4 – Yorkton - more information here.
• WEDNESDAY Local 8.8 – Vulcan - more information here.

Thursday, December 3:

• THURSDAY Local 8.8 – Crossfield - more information here.

Monday, December 7:

• MONDAY Local 8.8 – Trochu - more information here.

A list of scheduled meeting dates and times are available here.