Dominic Lemieux*
President of the Steelworkers
–
In fact, the adoption of Bill C-253, which essentially aims to raise the debt rank for pension plans and health benefits, would benefit more than 1.2 million workers in Quebec and Canada who work in the private sector and who have a defined benefit pension plan, but also to an even larger number of retirees and their surviving spouses who would see their pensions – at least in part – and their health benefits protected.
In collective bargaining, pension and insurance plans are negotiated in the same way as wages. They are deferred wages. It is therefore inconceivable that former workers and retirees fall below the table, after banks and other financials. No argument can be made that “the real people”, who eat and consume here, come after paper creditors like parent companies who reimburse themselves after having bankrupted their subsidiary and having been negligent by not capitalizing not enough pension plans.
The notion of risk is not the same for workers or retirees as it is for banks or a municipality.
The bankruptcy of their employer or their former employer can have consequences such as the inability to do grocery shopping at the end of the month, the obligation to sell one’s house, the inability to obtain certain medications and medical care. For elderly retirees, who do not have the opportunity to bail out, it is a lifetime’s savings that go up in smoke, while for companies, the consequences are after all limited. This goes into bad debt provisions usually already built into balance sheets.
In the context of the current pandemic, the need to adopt Bill C-253 is all the more urgent given that the financial markets are showing great volatility, which can weaken the financial health of several private companies. Recently, adjustments have been made to help companies get through this pandemic period, but they open the door to possible abuses on the part of certain multinationals which have several subsidiaries, and therefore to new human tragedies. It would thus be a fair swing of the pendulum to adopt C-253.
We urge all parliamentarians to move forward without delay to better protect retirees and former workers in the event of bankruptcy by supporting Bill C-253. The status quo is no longer an option.
76% of Quebeckers and Canadians believe that the federal government should “force bankrupt companies to pay retirees before donors”1. Its adoption would restore hope in the ability of parliamentarians to put aside the behind-the-scenes games in order to take concrete action in the interests of workers and retirees. There is currently a consensus of the main opposition parties (Conservative Party and New Democratic Party) to pass Bill C-253. There is no reason why the Bloc bill should not receive royal assent. The government must now prioritize C-253!
The tragedies lived should never happen again and we have a means of guaranteeing ourselves: C-253. Take action! Take action!
*Marilène Gill, Member of Parliament for Manicouagan, sponsor of Bill C-253 (BQ), Andréanne Larouche, Member of Parliament for Shefford (BQ), Louise chabot, Member of Parliament for Thérèse-de-Blainville (BQ), Sebastien lemire, Member of Parliament for Abitibi-Témiscamingue (BQ), Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, President of the FADOQ Network, Ken Neumann, Canadian President of the United Steelworkers, Dominic Lemieux, President of the Steelworkers, Renaud Gagne, President of Unifor Quebec, Denis bolduc, general secretary of the FTQ, Michael Powell, President of the Canadian Federation of Retirees, Richard Fournier, President of the Quebec Council of Unifor Retirees, Trish Mc Auliffe, President of the National Federation of Retirees, Anthony J. Pin, President Pensioners’Chapter, Bill Chedore, National President of the Canadian Congress of Retirees Unions, Bill VanGorder, Director General of Operations and Policy, CARP, Barb Mikulec, Senior Vice-President of the Council of Seniors’ Organizations of British Columbia, Bruce Maccoubrey, Director of Air Canada Pionairs, Charles Burell, President of the Retired Employees Club of MacMillan-Bloedel-Weeyerhausser, Cody Cooper, President and Chairman of the Board of the Chrysler Canada Retirees Organization, Denis Bernard, Chairman of the ActiPension group (Rio Tinto retirees), Gary McCaig, president of Catalyst association for the defense of the rights of retirees, Diane Wood, President of the Federation of Union Retirees of British Columbia, Geoff Oliver, President, Koda Retirees Association, Gilles Bedard, president of the group of retirees of Withe Birch-Stadacona, Gordon St-Gelais, Chairman of the Cliffs Retirees Committee, Jane Robertson, founder of single seniors for tax fairness, Jane uchacz, Incorporated Association of Saskatchewan Seniors, Jean-Paul Joanisse, president of the Pro-RAPQ group, Jean Sickman, President of the Government of British Columbia Retired Employees Association, Karon Brennenstuhl, Unifor local 1498, Keith Robicheau, President of the Ontario Municipal Retirees Organization, Ken Davids, treasurer of the retiree group of stores and catalog of Sears Canada, Louisette Hinton, President of the Citizen’s Coalition for Better Living and Aging, Lyle Hargrove, president of the Center-Sud council of the Association of Retired Trade Unionists of Canada (ASRC), Lylie Herman, President of the Incorporated Saskatchewan Seniors Association, Mary L. GriffinPresident of the British Columbia Colleges Pension Plan (CPPR) Retirees Association, Normand Leblanc, president of the association of retirees DuPont INVISTA Canada, Pat Daley, president of the association of retired employees of CUPE, Pamela Strong, Unifor local 200 (retirees), Patrick Mousseau, president of the organization of retired employees of Stel, Robert Fleury, president of the association of retired union employees of the newspaper The sun, Sharon Altman-Leaman, president of the Yellow Pages retirees group, Sheila Pither, President of the Council of Seniors’ Organizations of British Columbia
1. Survey conducted by The Vector Poll in January 2018.
–
Related
