PS retirees campaign to save benefits
Association going public with opposition to Clement’s proposed changes
Canada’s retired public servants, military and RCMP are ramping up their campaign to stop the Conservative government from reducing their retirement benefits in order to bring them in line with those in the private sector.
The National Association of Federal Retirees, known as FSNA, is taking the rare step of going public with its opposition to Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s plan to double the premiums that retired public servants pay for the public service health care plan while also limiting their eligibility to join the plan.
Details of the proposal were leaked several months ago and FSNA has since worked behind the scenes, buttonholing MPs, bombarding their offices with letters and emails and gathering signatures for a petition.
It has refused to publicly comment on a proposal that is still being negotiated. However, FSNA is having a press conference in Gatineau Friday morning before it privately meets with West Quebec MPs to discuss its concerns.
FSNA has traditionally steered clear of the media spotlight but is ramping up its campaign because it feels it is running out of time.
Clement has shown himself to be firm in his resolve to bring public servants’ pensions and benefits in line with the private sector and they’re braced for him to do the same with pensioners.
In a statement, Clement’s office said the government signalled its intention to examine retiree benefits in the last budget to ensure they are “fair and sustainable,” but no decision has yet been made on the health plan.
“It is important to note that our examination will include consultation with stakeholders such as employee unions and the National Association of Federal Retirees. No specific decisions on this matter have been made.”
The association has some 185,000 members across the country, but the centre of any campaign is in Ottawa-Gatineau, where about 100,000 retired bureaucrats, military and RCMP reside. Nearly half of them belong to FSNA.
The largest numbers are in Conservative MP Royal Galipeau’s Ottawa-Orléans riding, followed by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s Ottawa West-Nepean riding, Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre’s Nepean-Carleton riding and Liberal MP David McGuinty’s Ottawa South riding.
About 8,000 of FSNA’s members are on the Quebec side, where the largest number of federal retirees are in the Hull-Aylmer and Gatineau ridings, held by the NDP’s Nycole Turmel and Françoise Boivin respectively.
Clement’s proposal was first unveiled in June at a closed meeting of the partners committee of unions, management and retirees who oversee the health care plan, but details quickly leaked out and FSNA quietly took up the cause. The 17 federal unions have also pledged their support in opposing the move.
Since then, FSNA launched a website, honouryourpromise.ca, organized an online petition that is approaching 15,300 signatures, conducted a letter-writing blitz on Clement’s office and is using Twitter and Facebook to drum up the support of 500,000 retirees and public servants across the country who belong to the health plan.
The health plan was negotiated by the union-management National Joint Council, and anyone who collects a public service pension can join. Under the legislation, anyone who contributed to the pension plan for two consecutive years is eligible for a pension.
But with the new proposal, the government argues that working two years in the public service is too short a time to get access to the bureaucracy’s health care plan and wants it extended to 10 years. It also wants retirees to pick up 50 per cent of the cost of contributions rather than the 25 per cent they pay now.
The government has been taking steps to have public servants and retirees shoulder more of the cost of their benefits.
Retirees were moved to a 50-50 cost sharing in contributions to the pensioners’ dental plan. The most controversial shift was the 50-50 cost sharing between the government and public servants for the pension plan.
On its website, FSNA argues the $40-a-month increase is unfair to the most “vulnerable” of retirees or their survivors on small and fixed pensions. They argue that those with serious health problems could be forced to choose between health premiums and basics such as rent, food and heat.
The Public Service Health Care Plan reimburses members and their dependents for a range of health-related goods and services that are not typically covered by provincial and territorial health plans. The cost of the plan is managed centrally by Treasury Board.
Other than pensions and health care, retiree benefits include membership in a dental plan as well as supplementary death benefits, which is a life insurance plan they pay for while working and can continue after retiring.
So far, the government has made various changes to pension plans and voluntary severance pay, and is now planning an overhaul of sick leave for existing employees or new hires.
The next big target is sick leave, and the government’s omnibus budget bill is ushering in sweeping changes to the Public Service Labour Relations Act that would greatly diminishes unions’ bargaining clout for the 2014 round of bargaining.
Clement wants to replace accumulated sick leave with a new short-term disability plan. He didn’t agree to pleas from unions to take the amendments out of the bill and instead consult with them on new legislation.