Federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair was in Hamilton Friday morning to launch the party’s national campaign calling for major changes to the Creditor Companies’ Arrangement Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
“Fighting for pensions is fighting for workers, is fighting for their families, is fighting for their health upon retirement, is fighting for their very dignity,” he told a crowd at the United Steelworkers Hall.
“It is a fight the NDP will lead and win,” he added.
Hamilton Mountain MP Scott Duvall will make the push with a private member’s bill this fall that seeks to amend the acts.
If passed, it would require companies to bring any employee pension plan fund to 100 per cent and pay any severance owing before paying secured creditors when facing insolvency.
“The workers are not asking for any more than what they already have,” said Duvall.
“They’re asking them to commit to the agreements that they did under employment and stop stealing from them if they have to go into bankruptcy protection.”
Duvall said while it won’t help Stelco or Sears Canada employees, the bill does stand to help other employees in a similar situation down the line.