LOCAL 793 RETIREES GET GOOD PENSION NEWS

Local 793 members and retirees received more good pension news in October.
Trustees decided to once again grant consent to members ages 60 to 65 who want to retire early with full pensions. This is available for retirements effective up to and including Sept. 1, 2010, and is extended retroactively to members who retired early from active service in 2006 and 2007. Their pensions will be increased retroactive to the later of Jan. 1, 2007, or their retirement date.
Trustees are also granting consent to members age 55 to 60 who want to retire with a pension reduction equal to half a per cent per month to age 60.
Meanwhile, contributions made on behalf of retirees who continued working will again be used to provide additional pension. This will apply to contributions made retroactive to Jan. 1, 2002.
Earlier in the year, trustees increased pensions for Local 793 members by seven per cent retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007, essentially restoring benefits that were reduced earlier.
Local 793 business manager Mike Gallagher explained in recent mailouts that pension trustees were able to make the improvements because of good investment returns in 2006 and the fact that the Liberal government temporarily suspended solvency requirements while the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions reviews pension regulations and funding rules.
On Nov. 7, Gallagher joined Tom Levy, a committee member of the Multi-Employer Benefit Council of Canada (MEBCO) and senior VP and chief actuary with The Segal Company Ltd., and Brian Foote, a management trustee with MEBCO and trustee of Local 793’s pension and life and health benefit trust funds, in presenting a brief to the commission at a public hearing.
Local 793 and MEBCO maintain that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario wrongly imposed solvency or windup funding rules on MEPPs with an improper interpretation of pension regulations.
A copy of the MEBCO brief is available at union offices for any member or retiree who would like to see it.