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Leading leadership candidate misinforms Nova Scotians about pension plan contributions by public employees. - Updated
Halifax (9 July 2010) - The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) has criticized the leading candidate for the provincial Progressive Conservative Party leadership over erroneous comments on the funding of pensions for public employees.
NSGEU president Joan Jessome sent a letter to the province's two major papers responding to a letter by Jamie Baillie published by the Halifax Chronicle Herald and the Cape Breton Post.
Baillie wrongly accused the province's NDP government of borrowing more than $500 million to fully fund its pension plan "without asking for a dime from its employees."
"This is simply untrue," Jessome responded.
"Through a variety of benefit reductions, the active and retired members of the Public Service Superannuation Plan (PSSP) contributed fully $1 billion to help make up the plan's $1.5 billion shortfall," she noted. "The plan's members paid their share. They certainly don’t deserve public admonishment based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts."
However, Baillie was right about one thing, Jessome added.
"It is not fair that most Nova Scotia workers don't have any workplace pension at all, leaving many of them facing a future of poverty. That's why pensions are such a crucial component of the collective agreements that the NSGEU helps its members negotiate with their employers," she argued.
"And that's why we are encouraged by the proposals to expand the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) for all Canadians and are pushing for even more significant overhauls to the country's public pension system."
Update - 4 Aug. 2010
Exchange of letters - See full texts posted on NSGEU website.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE