The union representing more than 300 employees at HBC Logistics Ltd. warehouses in Scarborough, Ont. has ratified a three-year agreement that includes benefits gains. The new agreement maintains the employee contribution to the health benefits plan at its 2017 rate. Some 80 per cent of members of Unifor Local 40 voted to accept the new […]
The value of a typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan’s assets declined in June, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest monthly report. An investment portfolio designed to mimic typical Canadian DB portfolios saw its assets decline by 5.4 per cent over the month. The benchmark portfolio is composed of 50 per cent equities and 50 per […]
The shift to remote working is tamping down wage growth by two per cent over two years, shrinking — by more than half — employees’ expectations of real-wage catchup amid rising inflation, according to a report by the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. It found while U.S. consumer prices rose 8.6 per cent […]
Despite year-to-date asset losses and historically high levels of inflation, most Canadian defined benefit pension plans are reporting increased funded positions in the second quarter of 2022, according to a report by Mercer Canada. It found the median solvency ratio increased from 108 per cent as at March 31 to 109 per cent as at […]
A new report is urging pension plan sponsors and other institutional investors to ensure the resilience of their portfolios in a number of different inflationary scenarios. The report from Mercer argued inflation rises spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and widespread monetary easing are balanced by several disinflationary forces, like globalization. Geopolitical tensions, however, could upset […]
Two-thirds (66 per cent) of employees are willing to take a job with a lower salary and a pension plan than one with a higher salary and no pension, according to a new survey by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. The survey, which polled 1,700 Canadian adults, found while employees close to retirement age […]
There are a lot of reasons to believe financial markets will be very different in the next 10 to 20 years than what pension funds have been used to, according to Aaron Bennett, chief investment officer of the University Pension Plan, during a session at the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute forum in Montreal last […]
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, fewer Canadian benefits plan members are making drug claims, according to Telus Health’s annual drug trends report. The report, based on the drug claims activity of more than 10 million plan members in 2021, found just 56 per cent made a claim in 2021, reflecting a decreased frequency of in-person […]
The union representing Pacific Western Transit Canada workers in Pemberton, Squamish and Whistler, B.C., has ratified a five-year collective agreement that will see members move to the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan’s DBplus. Members will contribute three per cent to the plan with an equivalent employer match, says Gavin Davies, a national […]
Three-quarters (74 per cent) of employers cite cost as the most important aspect to consider when designing and reviewing their benefits plans, followed by employee attraction and retention (63 per cent), according to a new survey by MBWL International Ltd. and Normandin Beaudry. Daniel Drolet, a senior partner at Normandin Beaudry, says while employers focused […]