Pensions shrink for P.E.I. workers in troubled national fund
The pension fund for former workers at the now-closed NOFG pork plant in Charlottetown has been a concern for months and now they've learned they'll be receiving only about half the pension they were expecting.
Former worker Paul Whiteway does not expect a planned court case to help him.(CBC)The workers were part of a pension fund called the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan. About 300 employers across Canada pay into the fund, and more than 300,000 workers were hoping to draw a pension from it.
But the fund is seriously underfinanced. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario is suing the trustees over $280 million worth of what it calls bad investments. A report from the commission cites sloppy bookkeeping and potential conflicts of interest from 1997 to 2003.
The problems with the fund are further bad news for about 85 former NOFG hog plant workers, who lost their jobs when the plant closed in March.
Paul Whiteway was expecting $456 a month, but he will now receive only $233.
The Financial Services Commission's court case is scheduled for later this month, but Whiteway doesn't expect it to help him financially.
"I think it's just going to give the pension plan a slap on the wrist, and they'll take the court costs out of the pension plan and that'll be it. Simple as that," Whiteway told CBC News Monday.
Hog plant workers have asked the province to step in to avert a financial crisis, and to bring in legislation to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
Richard Brown, the minister responsible for the P.E.I. Lending Agency, said the government is aware of the problem, but for now is not prepared to step in.
0 comments:
Post a Comment