Council changes pension plan at issue in Saskatoon Transit lockout

Watch above: Council approves changes to pension plan at issues in Saskatoon Transit lockout

SASKATOON – Councillors and Mayor Don Atchison voted unanimously to make to the City of Saskatoon’s general pension plan which will see employees contributing more to their pensions.

A special meeting of council was held Monday at Saskatoon City Hall. The provincial pension superintendent sent this letter to the city on Sept. 15.

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The letter advises monthly payments of $90,100 per month, dating back to Jan. 1, be made in response to a pension shortfall. It also recommended changes to remedy the situation.

The city responded by holding Monday’s special council meeting which lasted two hours.

The decision to approve necessary changes to make the pension plan sustainable was unanimous.

After the decision, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 (ATU 615) announced it had filed a unfair labour practice against the City of Saskatoon, along with an application for interim relief of the lockout.

The application is scheduled to be heard by the province’s labour board of Friday.

Background: Pension plan unsustainable: City of Saskatoon

Prior to the meeting, approximately 200 members of ATU 615 rallied outside city hall.

All in attendance filed inside council chambers for the meeting where loud applause erupted twice when the union’s representative, Jim Yakubowski, spoke on behalf of the members.

Atchison warned the gallery that another outburst would result in removal from chambers.

The city implemented a lockout Saturday evening, halting public transit in Saskatoon.

Read more: City locks out Saskatoon Transit workers

The lockout will be in effect until a new contract has been ratified. The union is asking for a 22.25 per cent wage increase over five years.

The city’s latest offer was 10 per cent over four years.

Read more: Battle lines drawn over pension plan in Saskatoon Transit labour dispute

There are no upcoming talks scheduled.

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News release from city (below):

For Release: September 22, 2014

CP14-160
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES GENERAL PENSION PLAN CHANGES

Due to uncertainty surrounding City finances and the future of the General Pension Plan, at a special meeting City Council today approved necessary changes to the Plan.

The changes mean employees and the City will each contribute more to the Plan to ensure it lasts well into the future.

There are nine unions which participate in the General Pension Plan; eight have already reached agreements with the City while the Amalgamated Transit Union, 615 (ATU) has not.

“We have a responsibility to the other eight unions and nearly twenty-two hundred employees who have signed onto the new plan,” Director of Human Resources Marno McInnes says. 

“We have promised City employees that the plan will be there when they need it and City Council has kept that promise.”

The Plan valuation was not up for debate.  The Plan deficit has already been triple checked and verified by a third party review – required under provincial law.  This analysis had been accepted by the City and its unions.  In fact, the valuation formed the basis of the agreement to fix the pension plan every other union has agreed to except for the Transit union.

Saskatoon Transit operations remain suspended following a Saturday lockout of the Transit union.  This, after the union demanded in last-minute bargaining talks a 22% wage increase over five years.

“The pension issue has been settled and the Transit union’s latest wage proposal is not fair to the eight other civic unions which settled for 10 per cent,” McInnes says.  “We hope the Transit union can find a way back to the negotiating table so that our transit operations can return to normal.”

Previously, the City and the Transit union had been at an impasse on the union’s portion of the City’s General Pension Plan which was valued with a $6.7 million deficit.

The issue became an urgent business matter for City Council. The provincial government regulator – The Superintendent of Pensions – last week issued a letter to the City directing the City to pay $90,100 per month starting at January 1, 2014. 

The changes will pay-off the deficit by increasing the contributions of both employees and the City.  The changes will also create a 10% cushion in the fund to absorb any future volatility in the financial markets.

“If Council did not take this bold step, every month that went by without a contract would have cost taxpayers $90 thousand, or just over $1 million per year,” McInnes says.