CANADIAN LABOUR/CANADIAN POLITICS:

PROTECT WORKERS' PENSIONS:

The following appeal is from the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. With all the billions that are being thrown at business bailouts during this economic crisis little attention has been paid to workers' pensions. The CEP wants to correct this.

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Subject: CEP campaign to protect workers' pensions:

Greetings,
The banks and big corporations have received billions of dollars in government aid, while workers are forced to the back of the line. Have your say now, while the federal government is holding consultations on changes to workplace pension legislation. Join CEP's online campaign to protect workers' pensions, by clicking here to send an e-mail, before April 17, to Ted Menzies, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Minister of Finance.

Thank you

Dave Coles
President
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada
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Objet: la campagne du SCEP pour protéger les pensions des travailleurs et des travailleuses:

Salutations,

Les banques et les grandes compagnies ont reçu des milliards de dollars en aide gouvernementale tandis que les demandes des travailleurs et travailleuses sont constamment repoussées en bout de ligne. C’est tout à fait injuste. Dites-le maintenant au gouvernement fédéral qui tient présentement des consultations sur des changements à la loi sur les régimes de retraite en milieu de travail. Joignez-vous à la campagne en ligne du SCEP pour protéger les pensions des travailleurs et travailleuses en cliquant ici pour envoyer un courriel, avant le 17 avril, à Ted Menzies, Secrétaire parlementaire du ministre des Finances.


Merci,

Dave Coles
Président
Syndicat canadien des communications, de l’énergie et du papier

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THE LETTER:

Please click on the link above to send the following letter to Parliamentary Secretary Ted Menzies. Il y a aussi une version français. Cliquez le lien ci-dessus.
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Ted Menzies

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Greetings:

Department of Finance consultations on private pension plans arrive at a very critical time. We are in an unprecedented financial crisis caused in great part by the greed and the incompetence of big business. However, they will not have to deal with the consequences. Companies are proceeding to major layoffs when they are not simply going bankrupt. Thousands of workers lose their jobs and too many of them will see a large part of their retirement income disappear. They have worked hard all their life to be told that now, they cannot get the retirement benefits they are entitled to.

The proposed reforms are not only insufficient to face the current economic crisis, but some of them will actually make the situation worse. It is urgent to protect workers’ pension plans. The Conservative government must:

1) implement a federal system of pension insurance
2) change the federal bankruptcy laws that put workers’ interests first
3) increase Canada Pension Plan benefits from 25% to 50% of the average industrial income and those of the Old Age Security to 15%.

The banks and big corporations have received billions of dollars in aid, but there is still nothing to protect the pension plans of workers. This is patently unfair. It is high time to act!

Respectfully,