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Pension Restructuing Looms For CCWIPP Members
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Pension Restructuing Looms For CCWIPP Members
Pension Restructuing Looms For CCWIPP Members
| Author | Message |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:57 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
More bad news for members of UFCW Canada's beleaguered CCWIPP pension plan: A notice from the pension plan's trustees this past week announced a -19.6% rate of return for 2008 and warned that "without significant new capital, benefit restructuring will be necessary".
Read more. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:58 am
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2883 Location: the 'puter |
Here's UFCW Canada's version of the CCWIPP. Quote: CCWIPP provides a secure monthly income to retired members based on their years of service. Contributions to the Trust Fund are made by participating employers on behalf of bargaining unit employees who become members of the Pension Plan. Contribution rates by employers are negotiated through members' collective agreements.
The Pension Plan belongs to the members - not to employers, not to UFCW Canada, but to the members. All assets are used to provide pension benefits for our members and their beneficiaries. Quote: The Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (“CCWIPP”) had another strong year in 2007, achieving an aggregate rate of return of 7.0% which significantly outperformed the average Canadian pension fund’s(i) return of 2.9%. The CCWIPP’s investment portfolio generated investment income of $112 million, increasing its net assets to approximately $1.7 billion. The CCWIPP achieved this performance despite the soaring Canadian dollar relative to foreign currencies, the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and the collapse of the Canadian market for non-bank, asset-backed commercial paper (“ABCP”). The CCWIPP had no exposure to the subprime-based assets or the non-bank ABCP. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:04 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
Oh yeah, that was the good news in 2007. In 2006, the ROI was 12%. According to the trustees, the CCWIPP plan has always had really solid ROI. I recall reading on one of their puff pieces that it's had positive ROI in 26 of the last 28 years. That's why things are going so well.
What I've always been very curious about is what has been included - and excluded - from these calculations. Do they, for instance, include loans that have been written off? Do they include the value of equity stakes for shares that are basically worthless or "unrealized gains" that, on a practical level, will never be realized? Oh the devil is always in these details. I can be forgiven my skepticism given some of the nonsense we've uncovered over the past few years. Like that office building in west end Toronto which was mortgaged to the hilt with a couple of CCWIPP's Propco intermediary companies holding the bag on the mortgages? The place was supposedly "sold" to some labour sponsored investment fund but when we got into the details it turned out that the Propco's were still responsible for the mortgages. There were a couple of others like that as well. Here's another dandy little sale that I don't quite understand. The CCWIPP 2006 report contains this reference to the multi-million dollar investment in the British Colonial Development Company which became the proud owner of The British Colonial Hotel in the Bahamas after the lecherous Father Ron Kelly defaulted on the multi-millions he'd hosed CCWIPP members for a couple of years earlier. Quote: By year-end [2006], the Plan completed the US$71.7 million sale of its 71 percent interest in
British Colonial Development Company, which owns a 13-acre waterfront property in downtown Nassau. The property consists of the 291-room British Colonial Hotel, adjoining commercial and retail buildings, and several acres of undeveloped harbourfront land. The proceeds from the sale are payable over a period of time. OK, so from that you'd think the place had been sold and that $71.1 million had been returned to the pension plan. But check the last sentence - the proceeds from the sale are payable over a period of time. Geez, how long a period? Are there regular payments or are we talking about from now to the next millenium? Your guess is as good as mine. What is known is that this "investment" is still on the books in CCWIPPville. It's 2007 financial statement shows an investment of $80 million in the British Colonial Development Company with a fair value of $63 million. I wonder if the $71 million sale was part of the 7% ROI for 2007? See what I mean? _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:52 pm
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2883 Location: the 'puter |
Quote: The CCWIPP had no exposure to the subprime-based assets or.... Quote: Then the Financial crisis Hit Well that's a mite scary eh? UFCW 1518 is telling it's UFCW Pension members don't worry be happy too, that our funds are invested wisely, far far away from the boogiecrisis. Bad enough to worry about where our money is, now people should worry about who's lying and who simply doesn't know what they're doing? That made even more difficult in that the last "news letter" was back in 2003. The "lying" buggers - and the dumb asses too for that matter - could have already absconded to the Bahamas with the dough by now for all anyone knows. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| The Third Element |
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:28 am
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Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 363 |
I am afraid to ask this,  because I should know but... when you leave, if you leave the union, does your pension money leave with you, does your pension convert into something else?
_________________ No Beast so fierce knows but some small amount of pity, but I know none and so I am no beast. ~ Richard III |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:42 am
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
You can leave your money in the plan or transfer it to an RRSP but with the transfer ratio being what it is you can only transfer 52 cents on the dollar.
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:18 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
As a follow-up to my last post, the following true story provides a vivid picture of the dire straits in which CCWIPP members were finding themselves well before the financial industry meltdown of last year.
A worker whom I'll call John worked for approximately 30 years in a UFCW-represented meat packing plant. Under the terms of the plan, would be able to retire with a full pension at age 60. Over the years he and his co-workers had accepted collective agreements that sacrificed wage gains in favour of having their employer increase contributions to the pension plan. Being able to retire at age 60 with a full pension was important to them particularly given the physical demands of their work. During that time he was a member of the CCWIPP plan which he believed was "sound" and would provide him with a comfortable retirement (UFCW reps and CCWIPP trustees were spinning this story even as recently as 2006). Eventually John learned that the pension plan was underfunded and that a special "temporary outlay" would be needed to permit him and other long term members to get an undiscounted pension at age 60. Still, UFCW leaders and CCWIPP trustees lauded the soundness of the plan and told members not to worry. In 2007, the plant where John worked was closed. He was 58 years old. With no prospects for re-employment (the plant was located in an economically depressed area with few other employers), John had no choice but to apply to draw his pension. A full pension (at age 60) would have netted him about $770 per month. Because he was only 58 his pension would be discounted, giving him about $550 per month. Because the plan is only 52% funded, that would be discounted by .52 giving him a monthly pension benefit of $220. None of this had anything to do with the financial meltdown. The underfunding problem goes back more than a decade. What's infuriating is that the regulatory agencies knew or had reason to suspect that the trustees' investment practices were less than prudent but they stood around and kissed their asses all the same. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:04 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
CCWIPP is back in the mainstream news
Grocery Workers Pensions in Jeopardy _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| weiser |
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:04 am
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Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 190 Location: Chilliwack |
Bernie Madoff rips cash from greedy investors and the world cries foul. Workers have their pensions plundered and the world looks the other way. Why is that?
Could it be that workers don't view the pension money as their own? The UFCW has worked for years to convince members that the money going into the pension isn't theirs -- but that only the money coming out is theirs. I'll have a bit more to add later. |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:28 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
The difference is that most of Madoff's victims were affluent investors while CCWIPP members are "ordinary" people - working people, making modest incomes and living quiet lives. The affluent get attention, from the media, regulatory agencies, the legal community, because they're affluent. Lawyers line up to represent them, regulators start jumping up and down because they're afraid of the legal fallout, judges throw the book at guys like Madoff because the line he crossed wasn't just plain old stealing, it was stealing from his own kind. The media loves doing stories about wealthy people - especially when they get fleeced. They just look, well, so shocked and appalled, so indignant and hurt.
In contrast, when the little guys get fleeced, nobody gives a shit. The Canadian media have known about the CCWIPP fiasco for years now. While many reporters and producers have acknowledged that it's a compelling story, they're not interested in putting any effort into telling it. I've heard every excuse in the book - we're afraid of being sued, nobody's eating cat food yet, nobody's been thrown in jail yet, it's too complicated. Some actually don't see the problem (I remember a certain producer from W5 asking me just what was the problem with Ron Kelly anyway? Wasn't he just a smart businessman? Seriously - yeah, smart businessmen routinely default on millions of dollars of loans from pension funds - well, I guess they do.) Only the Toronto Star has shown an interest in this story and actually did a pretty good feature about it back in 2005. I think that the workers understand that this is their money. Their problem is that there's nowhere to turn when someone's running off with bags of it. The regulators don't care, the media isn't interested, the legal community can't be bothered (not enough money in it because neither the FSCO nor the contributing employers can be sued) - so, where are the members to go for help? I still believe that if it wasn't for this site and the old MFD site, the FSCO would have swept the whole mess under the carpet years ago and given the CCWIPP boys its good housekeeping seal of approval. Another problem is that a lot of members put their faith in the regulatory agencies and the government so they've been waiting patiently, hoping that the FSCO actually does something to protect their money or to recover the millions that have been pissed away on shuttered resorts and defunct comedy clubs. The average citizen still has this naive confidence in that these public institutions are actually looking after the public interest. What a farce. I'm waiting now for the judge's decision in FSCO v. the CCWIPP Boys but I'm not holding my breathe for a judicious outcome. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| lary |
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:54 pm
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Joined: 08 Jul 2009 Posts: 1 |
I have a question,,,,this is quote i read somewhere about ccwipp..""There is no change to your earned pension credits up to dec 31 2004. The credits you have already earned are not being reduced. You will receive them when you retire"
" Those retired members already receiving a monthly cheque from ccwipp are not affected in any way by there change." I need to know if a guy has already retired is his pension reduced and also if a guy retires in the future before the plan goes down the tubes does he get his full pension or the reduced pension down to 52%? |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:32 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
That quote came from a notice that was sent to CCWIPP members in 2005 advising of a 20% reduction in the monthly pension accrual rate (an example in the notice advises that a member whose pension account would previously have been credited with $45/mo. will, effective 2005, only be credited with $36/mo). What the notice doesn't get into is that this reduction will reduce the members' monthly pension benefit once he or she retires. Members who were already retired when this notice went out would not be "affected in any way" by this change because, being retired, they were no longer accruing pension credits (rather, they are drawing a pension).
Whether any future "restructuring" of the pension plan will affect members who are already retired is an open question. It could. Retirees should ask this question of the trustees, the FSCO, the Premier, the CCWIPP administrators - anyone and everyone who has had a hand in the administration of this plan and who is responsible for protecting the members' interests. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| Elvis |
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:14 am
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Joined: 01 Feb 2006 Posts: 661 Location: Toronto |
Here's the CCWIPP 2008 Annual Report:
http://www.ccwipp.ca/PDF/Annual%20Report%202008%20%28English%29.pdf Nice to see that the Mondo Condo and some empty parcels of land have survived the bloodletting. 
_________________ Henri Ducard: Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share. Bruce Wayne: That's why it's so important. It separates us from them. |
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| the doc |
Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:05 pm
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Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 121 |
We could go round and round, but the fact is the money is gone,and all the regulatory bodies don't care. They look after themselves first, case in point the RCMP squealed like stuck pigs when it was there pension plan. Investigate ours, no time no interest. The sad part is what happens if and I mean IF the Trustees are convicted and fined. The fines will come out of the pension plan. Now you won't see McGinty saying "no we will not take the money from this poor pension plan". He will take the money and won't give a damn what happens to the pension plan, because his is guaranteed by you and me plus his increases. It is the same with the smart meters being installed all over Ont., once they are installed the hydro rates will be doubled. Who wants to get up in the middle of the night to live. The same with joining of the sales taxes, the biggest tax increase in history of Ont. and nobody cares. Just then, why would anybody care about the CCWIPP pension plan? The older employees get screwed and the p/t kids could care less. For anybody out there here is a thought. CCWIPP is a defined benefit pension plan and you get your money, (pension) if the plan has the money. That is the way it is with all pensions, except the high up UFCW leaders, and corporate biggies and politician. Now doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? 
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