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Matters of Concern to Workers Which Governments and The Government Is Not Protecting Workers' PensionsUnited Steelworkers Local 9700 represents workers at the ABI aluminum smelter in Bécancour, Quebec. My deep discomfort with this election and the way it is taking place is that workers, or voters, the majority of whom are workers, are being used as pawns for propaganda purposes, as a polling statistic, so that parties can come to power or remain in power. Workers are not listened to. Their needs are not taken into account. We are going in the opposite direction of what the people are demanding of their governments. If one follows the debates, one can see the extent to which the election is disconnected and far removed from our needs and concerns.
A serious problem we face is that Canadian laws do not properly regulate the activities of companies. For example, let's take the case of Aleris, the aluminum transformation plant that was located in Cap-de-la-Madeleine here in Trois-Rivières. Aleris was a subsidiary of the multinational of the same name in the United States, but it was an independent legal entity in Canada. What happened was that the U.S. multinational siphoned off the profits and left the pension plans of Canadian workers with deficits. The government allowed it to avoid paying back the pension deficits. For years the profits went to the parent company, which still exists. In 2009, the Canadian entity was declared bankrupt. The U.S. multinational did not recognize any obligation to the Canadian workers, who lost their severance pay and a huge portion of their pension plan. I know two former Aleris workers, one with 28 years of service and the other with 25, and they each lost 42 per cent of their pension plan. And this was all declared legal. These are the responsibilities that companies are walking away from, either legally or at times through coercion. We are in the same situation here at ABI. The ABI aluminum smelter is owned by the foreign multinationals Alcoa and Rio Tinto. However, it is considered an independent Canadian entity. If tomorrow morning, for example, the aluminum market collapses and Alcoa and Rio Tinto decide to place it into bankruptcy, they will not be held responsible for what happens to the workers at ABI. Alcoa and Rio Tinto will not be required to pay back the deficits. Companies that come to invest here in Quebec and Canada are familiar with Canadian laws and know that they do not protect Canadian workers. Often they come and set up here, take grants, and the entity they establish is declared by law to be independent even though it is not. Everyone knows that these entities are owned by the multinationals and that they are the ones making the decisions. The Canadian government does not legislate strictly enough to defend workers. This is what we have been denouncing for a long time and must change. It's a problem that the Canadian government does not want to deal with. And during the election, this problem is not even raised.
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One
of the serious concerns of workers is the defence of their pension
plans. For example, for years now the United Steelworkers and other
unions have been demanding that workers and their pension plans be
amongst the first secured creditors when companies declare bankruptcy.
Many workers have lost 30 or even 40 per cent or
more of their pension plan in such cases. This problem has persisted
for many years and is still not resolved.