Nortel Pensioners

Saving money for one’s golden years, when working is no longer possible or desirable, is a goal rightfully pursued by many Canadians. One does not expect to be working their entire lives just to survive. Nobody wishes to become an imposed burden on their family or friends during their later years. Yet, a flawed system seems to point at this possibility. An eight hour work day, with one or two hours commuting time, and the recommended eight hours of sleep, plus an hour to cook and eat, leaves only five hours of downtime during a work week (excluding weekends). Continuing such a pattern until death does not reflect an ideal image for a first world country. Those preparing for the rewards of retirement, set aside funds in the hopes of realizing this dream but recent events have forced the reality of such hopes into question.

Many expect this will be accomplished through the use of pension plans in addition to the usual government savings programs, which are described to be insufficient independently, when calculating the cost of retirement. In principle, pension plans are a great way of insuring a comfortable future, however, when a plan is self insured by the company offering the plan, the invested funds are protected primarily by a promise rather than any guarantee of receiving the expected funds should the company go bankrupt. The recent discussions on Oct 26, 2009, available on CPAC, regarding National Pensions and Retirement Income Security, demonstrated the difficult situation many Nortel employees are finding themselves in where large portions of their investments were lost. The fact of the matter is that during bankruptcy, the banks receive preferred creditor status over employees contributing portions of their salaries and years of service to a company.
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