The State of the Unions at Chalk River

The State of the Unions at Chalk River

On Monday June 5th, Jonathan Fitzpatrick, along with Bob Walker (PWU), Steven Schumann (IUOE), Matt Wayland (IBEW) and Stephen Eadie (Robertson, Eadie and Associates) met with representatives of the Prime Ministers’ Office, Treasury Board, and NRCan to discuss the request for CNL employees to remain in the Public Service Pension Plan beyond 2018 September.

This was the second meeting with government officials; the first round of meetings took place the week of 2017 February 20-24.

At the meeting, the Actuary’s Report prepared by Stephen Eadie was presented to the officials. The report summarized that allowing CNL employees to remain in the PSSA (including new hires post share transfer) was the best option for government, CNL, and the employees. The cost, compared to the new company pension plan, is comparable, with the costs for the Group 1 employees (anyone hired prior to 2013 January 1) being slightly higher than the future 9% and 9% contribution rate for the CNL/CERI pensions, and the costs for the Group 2 employees (hired after 2013 January 1) being the same or slightly less in most cases.

The key points from the actuary’s report are:

  • The PSSA is the least expensive long-term solution for both the employees and employers.
  • The PSSA will provide superior benefits to CNL employees.
  • The PSSA solution will facilitate the best human resource management for CNL or its successors.
  • The PSSA solution will likely provide better benefits to current mid-career employees, all else being equal.
  • The PSSA solution will facilitate any future transactions involving CNL or AECL employees.
  • The PSSA solution will eliminate the scheduled unfair reduction in the value of accrued benefits for affected employees.
  • The PSSA solution will reduce pension plan administrative and governance expense for CNL.
  • The PSSA solution will require the lowest immediate transactional costs for CNL and AECL.
  • The PSSA solution will allow employees of CNL to concentrate on their important work.

On June 19, 2017 CANW members met to review the June 5th meeting and plan for next steps in our campaign.

 

We’re asking our Chalk River members to download the attached letter and mail it to your local MP Cheryl Gallant,

CANW_Letterhttp://www.iamaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CANW_Letter.pdf