Retirees win back lost pension benefits

Here we go people.. We are under attack for our pensions..They are already doing it to inmates who can,t claim pension benefits...for which I do agree....that was a easy scoop..But if you follow the pattern though you probably will see corporations & goverments putting thier hands in our pockets now that baby boomers are retiring..What really gets me though is they knew in advance that pensions would have to be well fundedl because of the wave of retirements and advances in medicine to prolong living.I just don,t plan on paying more, that if planned right should have been already been paid for...Stay strong ..stand united..

It's too bad I can't ( and others ) do the same thing, a class-action lawsuit against NORTEL!!!

I have been living on a disability pension since I was hurt in 2001, and I am 48 years old now. In the year 2005 approximately, the insurance company approached me with a buy out offer of 5 years worth of benefits. Since I was supposed to be covered until I was 65 years old the deal was not worth selling it out.
Since I refused that deal they company has returned and told me I am now only covered until I am 60 years old. So basically since I refused a deal worth 5 years of my plan they have decided to take that 5 years off of the end of my plan.

They tried to buy out my plan for around 10% of what it was worth and since I turned it down they came back and punished me by taking that 5 years worth of payments off of the other end.
They have also came back and cancelled my medical insurance, which means all the medications I am on because of my injury, are no longer covered and if I want/need them I must now pay out of pocket.

So what do I do from here.

Claw backs to pensioners / people on pensions of any kind is criminal in my opinion . Part of the problem is that most people are naive always thinking that the company is hones and has the employees best interest and welfare in mind . But no the compy and owners/ share holders are greedy . Their only interest is how much of a dividend can they get . When times are goood the shareholders gets dividends but when thinghs are though they want Company loans and hand outs at the expense of their workers and taxpayers . Unions need to be revived and act as unions .

Re submitted to due errors on my previous posting

Claw backs to pensioners / people on pensions of any kind is criminal in my opinion . Part of the problem is that most people are naive always thinking that the company is honest and has the employees best interest and welfare in mind . But no the company and owners/ shareholders are greedy . Their only interest is how much of a dividend can they get . When times are good the shareholders gets dividends which they spend or squirell away ,but when things are lean they want worker concessions ,Government loans and hand outs at the expense of their workers and taxpayers . Unions need to be revived and to act as real unions should .

i agree lets put a class action suit aganist NORTEL

WE NEED TO PROTEST AND DEFEND THE SENIORS. WE WILL ALL BE THERE ONE DAY. THAN, IT WILL BE HARDER TO FIGHT THE FIGHT.

bc government just pulled this on bc retired teachers
teachers union didnt fight it
makes you wonder

some of us are fighting for more control over our pensions!!

I am a retiree of CHRYSLER CANADA, and I know it is CRIMINAL for them to take away any benefits.It is theft and when theives get caught they are supposed to pay the price. but that is not how it happens in Canada,as big corporations are the GOVERNMENT,and our politicians DO what they are told.This is what happens in CANADA.WE do not elect our politicians BIG corporations do,if you dont believe me ask any working man if he voted for Harper or McGuinty you will get the grand total of ZERO. this is why they stand back and do nothing about our pensions.

AND DONT EVER FORGET THIS TO YOUR PERIL...

JACK MACKLIN

Jack Macklin ... If you want your politician to pay anyattention to you have to have a big carrot and a good deal for them, some thing like a better pension for them.They are not interested in nickel and dimers like the working man or woman.they dont care about us,never have never will.WHAT THE BIG CORPORATIONS GIVE THE BIG CORPORATIONS TAKETH AWAY>

Interesting that we don't hear about people on low incomes working for small firms suing for pension benefits only people who have earned a good wage and worked for a larger firm. How odd..

Good point Steve. Even though I know people lower income than my family...I will tell you that the benefits mentioned in this article are just a dream to my family. My family has to be happy with the basics, and I mean basics. Semi-private hospital rooms and orthodontist benefits?? That would be nice!

My comments are related to the Canadian Government's pensions...

How many of you know that non-Canadian's can collect the CANADIAN OAP and the Gains pension. 'New' Canadians collect OUR pensions when they turn 65! No strings attached. What do you think of that??????

What do you think of 'new' Canadians collecting OUR pensions, as above, and ALSO collecting pensions from their home country, while living here in CANADA????

Good point, Karen.

As a 9th. generation Canadian born, I couldn't get anything out of this Government if my life depended on it. Yet, people can just come in this country and have everything handed to them on a silver platter. Canada has one of the most lavish system's in the world for new immigrant's. Canada not only doles out billion's of dollar's a year to other country's in foreign aid, but on top of that dole's out billion's of dollar's to new people to this country. I worked for 30 year's in a factory (GM) to get a pension. I just turned 65 the Government gave me my old age pension. But..GM deducts the amount I make from that from my regular company pension.

Everyone likes to complain but few fail to see what has really happened. All this "entitlement" that everyone says they deserve after all those years of hard work was never a reality. We have been living beyond our means for so many years and spending ourselves into the ground and now that things are starting to crack, everyone is upset. All the stupid works like sustainable, entitlement etc are not natural laws but rather ideas. Math is a law of nature and when the negatives exceed the positives, there are no ways to change it. Get used to the idea that all those seeking "entitlements" were the ones not responsible enough for the last 30 years to forsee what was coming. Not saying anyone did anything deliberately and did not work hard, just saying that it was all a dream from the beginning and no one noticed. Can't for the life of me see why so many people want to insist on their "entitlement" so adamantly and enslave our kids to a life of paying off the debts caused by our inability to plan properly.

I completely agree with Karen AND with "Responsible" too.
This is why I believe noone should trust the CEO's making 150 grand and alot more. Therefore, those people should also be brought down a few pegs and in my opinion, not be making more than 200 grand...and that's only if you've proven yourself the wisest of the company over a very long period of time.
Back to immigrants...did you know that in the USA you CAN'T get immigration status right away? You have to prove yourself, AND I believe you have to live there 4 years, without question. Then, of course, during that time period, they still have the right, at any time, to kick you out. I agree with that. Until you have proven yourself as a reliable, hard-working citizen, you should be "on trial."

Responsible is correct. Let me tell you all how we got to this point. Remember the days when the Family goal was to provide the basics for a much larger family and the little extra income was for a Summer Trip visiting relatives or camping. Very few even thought of going to Mexico, Cuba or somewhere exotic. It really was not an option since these resorts didn't exist much. The trip of a life time was Disney. This lifestyle evolved over the years when married couples decided not to have children or that a 2nd spouse got a job/career. People saw the luxuires these families were getting and became very envious. Lifestyles became very sexy for those aspiring to this goal. This created a new way of life which now is the norm. I mean, how do you top this lifestyle and luxuires? Is taking 2 trips per year, owning a Cottage, boat, seadoos, 4-wheelers, hot tubs, saunas, now the norm? Sense of entitlement, indeed!
As for immigration. Without immigrants coming to Canada, we would not be the rich country we now are. The majority of Immigrants are sponsored by a relative. They tend to move in with them. They find employment that most Canadians feel doesn't pay enough or too demeaning. They save their money, earn employment experience and move up to better careers. They eventually purchase their own home and are part of the economy just like you and I. The only difference is that the sense of entitlement is not their goal. They work toward the basic needs families use to have few generations back. I would bet that the percentage of immigrants on government assistant programs are far less than Canadian-Born citizens. In case someone wants to criticize me, I am not an immigrant.

I"ll agree with you "Guy" and add to that. The reason that the younger generations of today (40 somethings and below) are angry at the immigration system, is that we were raised by parents who taught us that you CAN have everything, with LESS work than we thought we needed to do. Why?? Well, OUR parents DID get everything for LESS work and LESS taxes. So now...after being told by our parents and our society, for years, that we can indeed have an extravagant lifestyle, we get SHOWN thrown our immigration and higher taxation, that we indeed CANNOT live that lifestyle. That IS life and the way life goes, but indeed is still VERY frustrating and hard to deal with.

Although many are losing pensions that were promised by large companies who do they expect to pay? The promises were not made by the government so the taxpayer should not be on the hook for this. I for one, who has noprivate pension, would be very upset if my tax dollars went to this....I would see it as just another corporate bail out. Laws could be put in place but this doesnt do anything for the people affected now. The companies........should they cut back operations and lay off the new generation of workers so they can continue to pay for the old.....that wont work. Revenue would dry up quickly. I dont see an answer. What happened is not right but I dont see what can be done without punishing someone other than the culprit. Maybe all that is left is to learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward. There is still CCP and Old age pension. Not a good answer but I think that is what we are left with at the end of this mess. The one thing that should definately happen is senior management should loose all bonuses and loose any pesnion they have also until the pensions promised to workers are re-instated. With any pension this money is invested in order to generate revenue to pay benefits. Us without a private pension plan( those with RRSP's etc) took a loss and the private plans fared no better. If the government did choose to bail out the big companies private plans then I expect my losses on my RRSP be replaced also. To me this would be the only fair thing to do if the government bailed out large companies pension plans. i am no less deserving. I cant see a government bail out for this ever happening and as far as the companies...you cant get blood from a stone. if they have no money....they have no money. The giovernment should ensure that if commitments are not met it is because of lack of funds,not allowing any "grey area" accounting practices designed to hide revenue.