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Vancity - What’s really going on with your pension plan - BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)


We've heard that Vancity management are conducting meetings where they are telling staff that the BCGEU lawsuit is holding up your new defined benefit pension plan.

The truth is that if your employer hadn't unilaterally reneged on their agreement to provide a jointly-trusteed defined benefit pension plan, we would have continued diligently working with them on delivering your new plan.

Instead, we were forced to file a lawsuit to defend your rights after your employer violated your collective agreement-an agreement that you ratified, in large part, due to the new jointly trusteed defined benefit pension plan.

Our union filed a lawsuit in late April 2022 and we are currently progressing well through the court's pre-trial processes.

We cannot allow Vancity to trample over your collective agreement rights. Here is why we filed the lawsuit on your behalf:

  • Joint trusteeship means that your pension is run by both employer representatives and union members. Having a voice is critical in making sure your pension is whole and secure when you chose to retire. Jointly-trusteed defined benefit pension plans are the gold standard-providing superior benefits for workers compared to solely trusteed plans.
  • Our union cannot allow Vancity to violate any part of your collective agreement. If we let them violate one part of the agreement what will stop them from unilaterally deciding not to honour the other rights and benefits you won in bargaining?
  • Vancity literally banks on their reputation as a company that lives their progressive values. We can't let them get away with saying one thing to their clients and shareholders while doing something completely different when it comes to the workers that build their business every day.

At any point, if Vancity agrees to get back to work on a jointly trusteed defined benefit pension plan, we will continue where we left off and get you the new plan you bargained for and won.

We'll continue to keep you updated as this process unfolds. In the meantime, please talk to a steward if you hear anything from management about your pension plan.

 

In solidarity,

Stephanie Smith
BCGEU President

Dave MacDonald
VP Component 17 General Services



UWU/MoveUP