Nackawic mill pensioners will fight Tory plan

Nackawic mill pensioners are banding together to resist the government's plan to re-distribute pensions following the bankruptcy of the Ste-Anne Nackawic mill.

The pensioners, including several widows of retired workers. object to reducing everyone's pension in order to provide benefits to those who otherwise would have received nothing.

Pat Diduch celebrated her 71st birthday this month. She has four sons, raised partly on what her husband Peter earned at the mill over 17 years. He died seven years ago, leaving her with 60 per cent of the pension he would have received had he lived.

Now, as result of the provincial government's decision to redistribute the pension fund, Diduch will lose a third of her monthly income about $300 a month.

"Most people are very worried, extremely worried," she said. "It's not really the worry of today. It's tomorrow, because when you're a pensioner, your earning power is gone and we don't know how long we're going to live, right?"

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When the mill went bankrupt last year, it left a long list of creditors and a pension fund that was between $20 and $30 million in debt. The unfunded portion of the pension meant retirees under 55 would only qualify for a portion of their pensions even though had the mill stayed open a few more months they could have had the full amount.

The provincial government seized what was left of the mill pension fund and promised to redistribute the money last December, ensuring that all pensioners would get something.The plan also ensured that approximately 325 retired mill workers and their spouses would lose about a third of their income.

Daryl McLellan was among a group of pensioners who showed up to welcome workers when the mill reopened under new ownership this week. He's helping organize resistance to the government plan.

"The government has put legislation in place saying they can't be sued," said McLellan. "Well, they still may be sued, we may challenge that law."

Craig Melanson is a former town mayor and a pensioned mill worker who is also involved in organizing pensioners. "We need to first of all I believe is get an injunction against the disbursement of the funds because once the funds are disbursed, the argument is over."

That disbursement to pensioners like Pat Diduch is scheduled to begin with their first cheque in March, unless a legal challenge is successful. She hopes it will be. "We were brought up to think that pensions were looked after by the government, they would be secure and this was a big shock."

Training and Employment Development Minister Margaret Ann Blaney says unless federal law is changed, private pension plans have no guarantees for pensioners.

"Pensioners are not considered secure creditors under the federal law, so the Bankruptcy Solvency Act has to change," she said, adding that the provincial government is not willing to top up the plan with tax dollars to save pensioners from suffering a loss in income.

But that answer is not good enough for Diduch, who still believes the government is letting her and the others down. "Here we are Canadians, paid taxes all our lives, brought up four sons who are good citizens, educated, we never asked for unemployment, we never went on welfare and they don't want to help us when we have a big problem here," she said. "That does not seem to me to be fair and just."