OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is urging the Treasury Board to ensure a surplus of $1.9 billion announced in March (and any additional growth since) accumulated in the Public Service Pension Plan benefits public sector employees, and to refrain from using their employees’ hard-earned contributions for the government’s own purposes as it did in 2000.
On November 25, Treasury Board President Anita Anand announced that the non-permitted surplus of $1.9 billion would be moved to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the government’s central account, while next steps are considered. In accordance with the Income Tax Act, all registered pension plans in Canada have a legislated limit to the amount of surplus they can carry. The government is currently exploring options for the use of these funds, including granting the employer – but not federal workers – a contribution holiday. This amounts to the theft of member contributions, which all workers across Canada need to resist.
Federal employees and the government both contribute equally to the pension, meaning half of the surplus was contributed by workers and rightfully belongs to them. The current surplus is being drawn from the “tier two” pension plan which benefits workers who began contributing on or after January 1, 2013.
CAPE favours strengthening the tier two plan to bring it in line with the tier one plan, allowing newer workers to retire earlier without penalty.
“We call on the government to collaborate with federal employees in deciding how the surplus will be allocated and avoid repeating the injustices of the past caused by past anti-worker governments who recklessly stole from their employees,” said CAPE President Nathan Prier. “Failing to give workers an equal voice in this matter will be further disadvantage a new generation of employees, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, young, and from other equity-deserving groups, who comprise a high percentage of the workers represented in the tier two pension plan.”
Under the tier two pension plan, employees are not entitled to all the same benefits as those covered under the tier one pension plan – those who began contributing by December 31, 2012. This means they must work an additional five years before being eligible to retire compared to those who began contributing earlier under the tier one plan.
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Media contact:
Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE)
Amanda Keenan
613-818-3140
akeenan@acep-cape.ca
About CAPE
With more than 25,000 members, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees is one of the largest federal public sector unions in Canada, dedicated to advocating on behalf of federal employees in the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) and Translation (TR) groups, as well as employees of the Library of Parliament (LoP), the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (OPBO) and civilian members of the RCMP (ESS and TRL). Read more.
