“Frustrating” meeting with city sees no pension progress, says union

REGINA – “Frustrating” is how a city union representative characterized a meeting about the civic pension, which took place Tuesday with the City of Regina.

The union met with city officials for several hours and still no ground was made, said Kirby Benning, the civic pension and benefits committee chair.

“I’m hearing from a lot of people – retirees and the actives, and everybody’s anxious to know we’re moving forward and we’re getting something accomplished. And I’m feeling a lot of their frustration that we’re not getting stuff done,” he said.

Benning said he’s concerned the two sides won’t be able to come to a deal by the end of September, the imposed deadline set last month by the Deputy Superintendent of Pensions of the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA) of Saskatchewan.

The superintendent said he is considering cancelling the city’s pension plan, which impacts 7000 active and retired employees because the plan is unsustainable with a deficit at nearly $300-million.

Benning said both sides indicated they were open to meeting again, but no date has been set for the future.

No official from the City of Regina was available for comment Tuesday.