Pension Rep's Report
Dave DeMarco

E Mail Dave DeMarco
Union Hall Office: 905-682-2611 ext 232
In Plant 905-641-6443

Dave De Marco is the Pension Rep for GM St. Catharines plants.

Dave can assist members sign up for retirement; provide an estimate for your GM pension benefits. Dave also provides information about Canadian Pension Benefits CPP, and Old Age security OAS. Dave's spends his mornings at GM and at the Union Hall in the afternoonUnion (12:30PM - 2:30PM)

Pension Links

Auto Facts Pension Update CAW Pension Campaign Government of Canada Government of Ontario Canada Pension Plan Old Age Security Canadian Pensions Rank 5th in the World CPP Reforms CAW Campaign Information Retirement Security for All Pension Charter Poster Protect our Pension's Poster

Pension Rep Schedule

GM Intra Corporation Council - Pension Report

Last week I attended the GM Intra Council in Toronto. I have attached a copy of the CAW Pension Report made for the Council. I thought you would appreciate an update of the status for each location. Please note, since the report was made 20 workers have retired from GM St Catharines.To read the report click on the following link.

GM Intra Corporation Council - Pension Report

Public better than private on pensions

The notion that we can't afford strong public programs - that we're better off buying services or benefits on our own - is one of the central falsehoods blocking meaningful progress toward improving Canadian well-being. An excellent example is the looming battle over public pensions, an issue that will be the focus of a meeting of Canada's finance ministers in December. Read More

GM slates $6 billion pension contribution

General Motors Co., Detroit, will contribute at least $4 billion in cash and $2 billion in GM common stock to the company’s $85.9 billion U.S. hourly and salaried pension plans, the company announced Thursday. Read More

Survivors Information

In the event that a GM retiree should pass away, their death must be reported to the General Motors Employment Rep. Presently, the person you wish to speak with is, Shirley Ancker. Shirley can be reached by telephone at the Glendale Ave. location at 905-641-6345. She will inform the GM Benefit centre, who will prepare and mail out the survivors documents to the surviving spouse.

The benefit centre will contact Sun Life, who will send out an insurance notification and claim statement form to the listed beneficiary (s).

When the survivor receives the Sun Life correspondence in the mail, and if they require assistance to complete the forms, she or he may bring that, along with all correspondence from the GM Benefit Centre along with, Two copies of the death certificate, a void cheque, and their S.I.N. card to the Union hall any weekday afternoon, between 12:30 and 2:30 and the CAW Pension Rep. will be happy to help complete your paperwork, and answer any questions that you may wish to ask.

If a retirees spouse pre-deceases them, the death still needs to be reported to the GM employment rep. A spousal revocation form and insurance beneficiary designation form needs to be ordered, and then completed, so that survivor’s premiums are no longer deducted from your pension.

Your CAW Pension Rep. will be happy to assist with these documents.

If a widowed retiree wishes to remarry or co- habitat with a new spouse it is very important to note, that you only have a one year window of opportunity to take out the survivors option again and add that spouse as a survivor on your pension. This means that you have one year to make application to add this spouse, and start paying the survivors premium so that your survivor receives a survivor's benefit after you are gone. If you exceed one year after marriage or co-habitation before making application under the terms of our collective agreement, the company will not accept it.

David De Marco
CAW 199 Pension Representatives

Canadian Pension Security System

On March 24th, The Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty announced there would be coast to coast consultations on Canada's retirement security system.

Mr. Flaherty said, "Canadians work hard to realize their retirement dreams" and "Our government will be giving Canadians an unprecedented opportunity to provide direct input on the future security and soundness of Canada's retirement income system".

The public town hall meeting locations are scheduled for Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Quebec City, Quebec and Richmond, British Columbia (dates have not been announced) and nothing in Ontario!.

While our union supports the consultation process the limited locations announced will deny many Canadians the opportunity to participate in the debate and have their voices heard. If Minister Flaherty truly believes in giving Canadians the opportunity to provide input he must expand the town hall locations and lengthen the time frame for this process.

This issue is too important to be limited to only three locations in Canada and be concluded in one month.

I am asking all CAW members to call Minister Flaherty’s office in Ottawa at 613-992-6344 and in his riding at 905-665-8182 and demand that more locations including Niagara be added to the consultation process.

You can also email him at; flaherty.j@parl.gc.ca or jim@jimflahertymp.ca

CPP in the News

The national president of the CAW has endorsed and supports a Canadian Labour Congress proposal that may effectively double Canadian workers CPP benefits in retirement.Of course, larger contributions from employment earnings would be required, but this could be a big positive for Canadians who are concerned about the adequacy of their future retirement earnings. CAW president Ken Lewenza supports a gradual increase in employee contributions over seven years that would see an increased retirement benefit to contributors. Dave Demarco

The Push for Pension Reform

Canadians shouldn't let "pension envy" enter in the debate over pension reform, the head of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said Tuesday. This is a danger as the private sector increasing moves towards defined contribution pension plans and away from defined benefit plans, Jim Leech said during a keynote address. Canadians are being told that defined benefit plans are unaffordable, but that is largely because of 'short-sighted tax rules and court decisions that have effectively prevented sponsors from saving enough in good times to offset losses in bad times," Leech said Read More

Alberta nixes bigger Canada Pension Plan, wants private sector to lead

In a blunt warning that signals a major shift in federal-provincial negotiations on how to reform the country's pension system, Ted Morton said Alberta would rather see an"incremental" approach. Rather than bulk up the CPP in a way that might not even help those with precarious finances, Morton said he'd rather see governments make a few regulatory changes to give financial institutions more leeway to encourage people to save. Financial institutions should be given about 10 years to show what they can do, before governments step in with a heavy-handed approach, he said. Read More

Lewenza calls for doubling of CPP

The head of the Canadian Auto Workers union is the latest figure to call for an overhaul of the Canada Pension Plan.Union president Ken Lewenza told CAW council members in Port Elgin, Ont., Friday that he supports a proposal to double benefits from the government-run pension plan.The issue of pension reform has gathered steam in recent months with the high-profile collapses of numerous private pension plans. In December, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty met with his provincial counterparts in Whitehorse to discuss ways of overhauling the system.At the meeting, some provinces were in favour of creating a second, complementary system to supplement the CPP, while others argued simply putting more money into the existing system is the wisest course. Ultimately, no consensus was reached but on Friday, Lewenza came out in favour of a proposal to double benefits from the government-run pension plan. Speaking at a meeting of the union's parliamentary body, Lewenza lobbied to gradually increase workers' contributions to the CPP by approximately 58 per cent over seven years. Read More

Review of 2009

January 20th 2010

Although 2009 brought many challenges to the GM unit and membership of local 199, over 700 of our GM members took advantage of various special enhanced incentive retirement opportunities, and elected to exit the workforce on their own accord. The break down of the numbers is as follows:

Production:

224 employees retired with 30 years
58 retired with 55+10
122 took the grow in

In the skilled trades

194 members retired with 30 years
61 retired with 55+10
11 skilled trades opted for grow-in to retirement

To all of our members, we offer our congratulations and the best of wishes in the future. Photographs of the retiree events can be seen at the following Link. 199 Image Gallery

In Solidarity

Dave Demarco
CAW GM Pension Rep

Ed Szymaniak
Alternate Pension Rep

Retirement Preparation

When a retirement event is declared, the first step is for management to canvass the workforce to see who wishes to retire. If you are fairly certain you would like to retire this year then sign the form saying you would like to participate. It is easier to back out if done in a timely fashion than it is to try and get added to a list at a later date.

After the lists are compiled and manpower requirements are sorted out then a Retirement Initiation Form must be signed. Along with this form, you will need to provide certain documents such as a marriage license (if married), spouse’s S.I.N. and both partners' birth certificates. If these documents are not available, there are other documents which may suffice. When this information is compiled, the official pension papers can be requested from Toronto. If a person is approved to retire, they will also need to complete a TD2 form directing any lump sum monies to a financial institution, if desired, and a direct deposit form for their monthly pension deposit. These forms are usually sent out from our local personnel office. After this process, the pension papers must be signed by the employee, the GM pension representative and the union pension representative.

2010 Pension Rates

The monthly pension rates as of October 1, 2010 for an employee with 30 yrs or more of service are $3,515 for a production employee and $3,895 for a skilled trades employee. This amount changes at age 65 to a basic benefit. A production employee with 30 years service would take home approximately $650 week.

A skilled trades employee with 30 years service would take home approximately $700 per week. There are a few variables which could change these figures such as; spouses age compared to employee’s age, tax implications if drawing from investments and extra service over 30 years which would increase the survivor option cost.

AGE 65 & BEYOND

At age 65, all GM retirees pension money is reduced to a basic benefit rate dependant on years of service and classification at time of retirement.

For new retirees, as of October 1, 2007 this monthly rate will be $68 per year of service for an assembler and $81 per year of service for a tradesperson. This amount is indexed each year.

Any government money such as Canada Pension plans and Old Age Security is not included in any calculations in this article.