“The federal-provincial agreement to expand the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a significant step forward for all workers,” said CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn.
“Thousands of Canadian’s from every province and territory have been calling on our government to increase the CPP. It is really their efforts that have led us to this important announcement,” said Hahn. “This week’s commitment to universal expansion, while not everything we hoped for, will result in a plan that puts more money in the pockets of every Canadian when they retire.”
CUPE and other Canadian unions have long advocated for an expanded CPP as the most effective, efficient and affordable way to ensure as many Canadians as possible can retire with a measure of financial security.
“With the changing nature of work and the increase in part-time and casual positions, a growing number of our own members do not have access to a workplace pension,” said Candace Rennick, Secretary Treasurer of CUPE Ontario. “And some members have only very modest workplace plans. An increased CPP will benefit all our members, but especially these.”
“Premier Wynne and Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa did the right thing here. Their strong leadership on public pension expansion has been important and they saw the real wisdom in letting go of their own plan to negotiate with other regions to ensure increases will be available to everyone,” said Hahn.
“Though we’re pleased with yesterday’s outcome, we must remember the work is not over,” said Hahn. “The CPP deal has been reached in principle, and we must continue to push to ensure that the enhancements proceed as planned so that a dignified retirement is a real possibility for more Canadians. And we must redouble our efforts as a movement to ensure that more workers also have access to workplace pension plans to assist in ensuring true security in retirement.”
CUPE is Ontario’s community union, with more than 250,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.
For more information:
Sarah Jordison,
CUPE Communications,
(416) 578-5638
www.cupe.on.ca