Teamsters Canada appeared before the House Committee on Finance to discuss Pension Reform on April 23rd.  We made our position very clear.  After 40 years of Regulation and more than a decade of unprecedented economic growth, it is unforgivable that there is a pension plan crisis in Canada.  Unlike companies seeking further deregulation, we are supporting greater controls on pension because nothing will change unless fundamental change to the regulatory regime underpinning pension are made;  changes that support pensioners and workers, and stop corporate greed.  

It is time to recognize that pensions are foregone wages, a contract between the company and a worker. The regulations do not recognize this relationship nor protect it.  The only reason for a pension plan to exist must be to deliver promised pensions to current and future retiree members of the plan. Company fiduciary duty must mean a fiduciary duty where beneficiaries are placed first - no payment holidays or surplus claw backs.

We have already met with six Members of the House Committee on Finance to further our lobbying efforts. Most recently, Mr. Mike Wheten, National Legislative Director Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, and Phil Benson, Lobbyist Teamsters Canada, met with Mr. John McKay, MP Scarborough East, in the Lobby of the House of Commons.  It was a good discussion of the topic, and Mr. McKay was certainly sympathetic to the problems that surround pension plans.