Resolutions for Protection of Pensions and Long Term Disability Benefits in the Workplace

Forwarded to me by Diane Urquhart

United Senior Citizens of Ontario Annual Convention

Resolutions for Protection of Pensions and Long Term Disability Benefits in the Workplace

Passed by Majority Vote on August 16, 2010

1. Canadian court precedents say that when pensioners lose their income due to pension plan deficits at the time of corporation bankruptcies, their loss is treated the same as unsecured creditor claims. This means pensioners are not being protected by Canada's bankruptcy laws and that large and powerful bond owners are benefiting from pensioners losing their income.

Therefore, be it resolved that the Federal bankruptcy laws be amended to place pension plan deficits at preferred status above unsecured creditor claims when corporations are liquidated or restructured.

2. More than 1 million Canadian are exposed to unsafe long term disability benefits provided by employers who are not buying insurance policies to back these benefits. When employers go bankrupt, they are cutting the income and medical benefits of the disabled. The disabled are being pushed into poverty without a basic quality of life. The disabled are forced to rely on the taxpayer funded Guaranteed Income Supplement in their senior years, even though the employers had enough money in their bankruptcy estates to pay for the long term disability benefits.


Therefore, be it resolved that the Federal bankruptcy laws be amended to put self-insured long term disability benefit claims at super-priority above all creditors when corporations are liquidated or restructured.

The United Senior Citizens of Ontario Inc. (U.S.C.O.) represents 300,000 seniors and over 1,000 seniors clubs throughout the province.

http://www.uscont.ca/

These resolutions will now be forwarded and voted upon at the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation Annual Convention

October 20th to the 23rd, 2010 at the Travelodge Ottawa Hotel & Conference Centre in Ottawa, Ontario

The National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation (N.P.S.C.F.) is a democratic, non-partisan, non-sectarian, and non-racial organization, formed in 1945. We are comprised of 450 seniors' chapters and clubs across Canada, who have a collective membership of 1,000,000 Canadian seniors.

http://www.npscf.org/