Workers want
politically

The workshop on political action
saw a Rreecuta tion from Leslie
Turnbull, a political and public
opinion pollster and lifelong New

mocrat from Viewpoints Research.

Polling union members for the
B.C. Federation of Labour and the
B.C. NDP in January of this year
showed some interesting results
which she shared with conference
delegates.

en asked if their union should
stand up for their family in front of
politicians, 25 per cent strongly
agree and a whopping 85 per cent
agreed.

“Unionized peorls want their
union to be pe ‘tically involved,”
said Turnbull.

Thirty per cent strongly agreed
that unions should have an active
role in politics and the changing
economy while 77 per cent generally
agreed.

“Unionized workers want a party
that’s committed to their interests
but they also want their union to
take an active role to ensure their
interests are on the agenda,” she
said.

As the economy has become more
globalized over the last 25 years the
public has deyeloped fewer
expectations over what government
can actually do to regulate it.

Howeyer she said that 25 per cent
of upion members strongly agreed
and 90 per cent agreed that unions
can play a key role in protecting
workers.

When asked if unions play a role

Ne ees

aa

to protect the wages and benefits of
working people in B.C. as
globalization increases pressure to
compete with the Third World, 25
per cent strong agreed and 90 per
cent agreed.

On public issues 44 per cent believe
health care is the number one priorit;
followed by 14 per cent who thin
tax cuts are the most important. Job
and the economy both tied at 10 per
cent each.

The speaker said workers trust
the government less than they did
25 years ago and the majority believe
the government should provide
education and training and create
an environment where the private
sector creates jobs and economic
ee ehs They believe in tax cuts

or small business and want
government to play a role in creating
jobs in areas of high and chronic
unemployment.

They also believe government
should maintain basic labour
standards and support and decent
minimum wage.

The polls indicates that union
members generally believe the NDP
in B.C. was unfocused and tried to
do too much, too fast, was an
ineffective manager of services and
tax dollars, spent carelessly and had
little voice in the media.

Turnbull said the I.W.A. and other
unions have to look at the future.

“We need a clear image and
identity,” she added.

That means the party has to be
relevant about the Economy, and
globalization, needs accountability,
needs to effectively articulate
its positions, not be a party of special
interest groups and must, at
the same time, strengthen its
relationship with unions and their
members.

“You have, over time, kept us real,”
said Turnbull. “When we need smart
people to run stuff, the union
movement provides that.” &

¢ Political and public opinion pollster Leslie Turnbull said that 85
percent of union members want their union to stand up to politicians.

“I

IWA - FOREST INDUSTRY PENSION PLAN
Notice of Amendment

On December 23, 1999 the Plan was amended. In the event the IWA — Forest Industry Pension Plan is terminated, the early
retirement subsidy will not be available to any member of the Plan.

The provisions of the amendment will not be implemented unless the I.W.A. Canada and the companies that participate in the IWA —
Forest Industry Pension Plan negotiate to terminate the Plan.

In the event, through the negotiations process, the IWA - Forest Industry Pension Plan is terminated, Active and Inactive Plan
Members will be treated equally. That is:

i) Everyone will receive 100% of their earned pension at age 65, and
ii) Active and Inactive Plan Members may take their pension before age 65 on an actuarially reduced basis.

If there are questions, please call a Pension Representative at the Plan Office: 1-800-913-0022 (Toll free in B.C.) or 604-433-5862.

1.W.A. pension plan not changing says officer

Hundreds of I.W.A-Forest
Industry Pension Plan members
have been calling their local unions
following the notice of an announced
amendment (see above) to the plan
which was included in this year’s
pension statement.

There’s no reason for plan
members to be concerned, says
national second vice president
Harvey Arcand. Members today
have the same benefit levels; and
those who want to retire before age
65 can do so without a problem.

The notice was sent out to plan
members because pension laws in
the province, under the B.C. Benefits
Standard Act, require that when
there are amendments to any plan,
its members have to be informed of
them by the Pension Plan and the
trustees.

The decision to amend the Pension
Plan to remove the age 55 early
retirement provisions on Plan
Windup was based on the fact that
this Pension Plan, as a multi-
employer pension plan, has virtually
no likelihood of Plan Windup. Before
the plan could ever wind up, the
wind-up would have to be negotiated,
which means all I.W.A. members
would have to vote for the wind-up
or it wouldn’t happen.

The way that the current rules
were worded caused the solvency
valuation to require millions of
dollars in contributions to fund the
early retirement provisions as if the
plan was winding up when in fact,
it was an eventuality that wasn’t
pong te happen without the I.W.A.
mem ership voting to wind up the
P

So, in the unlikely event the plan
does wind up, the trustees have
amended the plan to remove the
requirement for subsidized early
retirement.

The removal of early retirement
subsidies on plan wind-up, for
pension valuation purposes only,
allows us to use the actual age and
service earned by our membership,
and removes the requirement to
make contributions to fund what is
largely an artificial test under the
solvency rules.

It has no effect on active members’
right to retire between the ages of
55 and 65, except in the unlikely
event of the Pension Plan being
terminated completely. That is
extremely unlikely with a plan like
ours -- our membership would not
vote to do that.

“What it really means to all of us
is that we can continue to enjoy the
provisions of the plan as we always
have, and do so with lower
contributions”, says Harvey Arcand,
spokesman for the I.W.A. Trustees
on the Joint Board of Trustees, “and
there aren’t many deals like that
around any more these days.”

The IWA-Forest Industry pension
plan is one of western Canada’s
largest private sector pension plans
with assets of over $2.3 billion,
jointly managed by I.W.A. and
industry trustees.

It has grown to become 98 per
cent funded, up from a low of 62per
cent funded in 1992.

“That’s a big turnaround in less
than a decade, “ says Arcand. “We
are working towards full funding of
the plan by 2004.” m

LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001/39