Nortel still has cash.

Nortel isn’t broke:

Nortel has US$2.6B in cash now and will have up to US$6B in cash for disbursement to creditors after all its business sales.

Nortel CHOSE to enter bankruptcy protection in the US and CCAA in Canada and so it CHOSE not to pay out its benefits, because Canadian Federal bankruptcy laws permit companies to make this choice.

The Nortel case is a precedent for a line up of Canadian corporations to walk from their obligation to pay for employee benefits, like pensions, long term disability and health plans and severance.

Unlike the US, Canadian pensions are not protected by any federal insurance program. The Canadian NRPC group along with the CAW and legal and financial supporters are working to get the government in Canada to change the bankruptcy process to provide some priority to pension plans over other creditors.

Anyone with a Canadian pension can be impacted, as we Nortel retirees are finding out. If you are affected or may be affected call or write to the Canadian Prime Minister and the Member of Parliament where you reside, or last resided, in Canada, and let them know you want the law changed to protect retiree benefits.