In its 2019 budget announcement on Thursday, the Ontario government said it’s taking a step towards implementing a framework for target-benefit pension plans. The budget included preliminary legislative changes that would expand the eligibility criteria for multi-employer target-benefit plans to include non-unionized multi-employer plans, in addition to those that are collectively bargained. The move is intended […]
The union representing University of Saskatchewan support workers is one step closer to striking in an ongoing dispute regarding its members’ wages and pensions. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1975, which has been without a contract since the end of 2015, voted to strike in September 2018 but has been held back by two disputes in front of […]
On Jan. 1, 2018, Germany introduced pension legislation aimed at strengthening workplace pensions by creating a system of collective defined contribution plans. And yet, a year later, not a single plan has been introduced based on the reforms. Speaking at an event in Frankfurt in November 2018, a board member from IG Metall, Germany’s largest […]
The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1975 is calling for an immediate meeting with the University of Saskatchewan’s board of governors to a find a resolution to the bargaining unrest on campus, which includes issues around the pension plan. The university is proposing to eliminate the current defined benefit plan and replace it with a defined contribution […]
The union representing 1,900 non-academic workers at the University of Saskatchewan is raising objections to a proposal the school has tabled to eliminate its defined benefit pension plan replace it with a defined contribution or target-benefit plan. In December, the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ bargaining committee proposed a jointly sponsored DB plan as a compromise, said […]
As lobbying efforts intensify to keep Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ employees in the public service pension, plans are moving ahead to convert a multi-union, multi-employer plan into a target-benefit arrangement. Collective agreements ratified in September 2015 between the United Steelworkers union and CNL state that employees hired before that date would stay in the public plan until September 2018, […]
When it comes to the difficult issue of equity in pension plans, Quebec has been at the forefront recently with its plan to table a bill to eliminate so-called disparity clauses. The province’s plan, which has significant union support, has drawn the attention of Quebec’s pension industry, particularly since it would affect organizations that have […]
The Ontario government has published proposed regulations relating to the funding framework for certain multi-employer pension plans seeking to convert defined benefits to target benefits. Under the proposed regulations, which were first announced in June 2017, eligible multi-employer pension plans wouldn’t be required to fund on a solvency basis. However, they would still be required to provide […]
As part of its 2018 budget, the Ontario government unveiled a proposal to make its changes to the pension benefits guarantee fund apply retroactively to plans with a windup date on or after May 19, 2017. “This amendment is intended to apply to pension benefits provided to former Sears Canada employees,” the government noted in its budget on […]
Manitoba’s Liberal Party is concerned about a number of pension plan design changes put forth by the province’s Conservative government in a public review earlier this month. “We are extremely concerned about the direction the Pallister government is taking on pensions,” Dougald Lamont, the leader of the Manitoba Liberals, said in an email to Benefits Canada. The […]