A tale of two Sears pensioners

Former employees facing strained retirement funds as retailer falls

Marcella Cassano loved working for Sears Canada.

“We were like a big family; people respected one another,” said Cassano, who started when she was 19, as secretary to a national merchandise manager.

“It’s the only company I’ve ever worked with. The reason I didn’t leave was because of what Sears stood for. It stood for employees, for community.

“I was boastful about the company.”

Cassano, 70, who retired at the end of 2010, is one of 16,000 Sears Canada pensioners who lost their health and dental benefits and are facing the possibility of a reduced income in retirement if the shortfall in the Sears Canada pension fund — about $266 million — is not topped up.

Sears Canada sought creditor protection in June and closed the last of its GTA stores last week.

Retirees had been lobbying government and company officials for years to have the pension fund topped up before Sears slipped into insolvency, to no avail.

The dental and drug benefits in the plan — cancelled in September — were important to Cassano. She just signed up for a replacement plan that is costing her $109 a month.

Depending on what the final pension fund figures are, Cassano figures she may be facing a drop in retire- ment income of about $200 or more a month. Cassano is luckier than her colleagues in other provinces — she can apply to have that deficiency made up under Ontario’s Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund, which provides financial assistance to Ontario workers whose defined benefit plan comes up short in a bankruptcy.

And she has lived frugally all her life.

“I had a great life. I didn’t make huge money, but what I made sustained me. I’m not a big spender, I am a saver,” Cassano says.

She shares a house in Toronto she purchased with her sister, a teacher, 30 years ago.

She retired from Sears to help her sister look after their elderly mother, who died in December.

Adrop in retirement income would mean she’ll be dipping into her RRSP savings sooner than expected.

“I do have to start taking my RRSPs at 70, but if everything goes the way it is, I will have to take more to cover house, taxes — expenses keep going up daily.”

Jean Reid, 79, in Victoria, B.C., retired at 60 in 1998, after 30 years in retail sales at Sears.

She said Sears was like a family in the early days.

She says she will be able to manage a 20-per-cent loss in her pension income, if that is what it comes to, but she bristles at the unfairness of it.

“I also feel disappointed in the federal government response. I voted for Justin (Trudeau). I think they could have taken a little bit of a firmer stand.”