Wednesday, November 23, 2016
By now, all OPS members will have been informed by the Employer of their intent to make further unilateral changes to post-retirement benefits. AMAPCEO is extremely alarmed by the Employer’s decision to deny retiree benefits to all future hires. The creation of two-tier post-retirement benefits is, in AMAPCEO’s view, a betrayal of the next generation of civil servants and establishes an unfortunate precedent. Please read on for a message on this subject from AMAPCEO President Dave Bulmer.
Dear AMAPCEO member,
On the morning of the first day of the 2014 OPS collective bargaining, the Employer notified AMAPCEO of changes it intended to make to the existing post-retirement benefits plan. Effective January 1, 2017, the minimum service requirement to qualify for post-retirement benefits was increased from 10 years to 20 years. As well, the Employer announced a move to a cost-sharing model in which all those who retired after January 1, 2017 would be required to pay 50 per cent of the premium costs.
Not surprisingly, many of our OPS members had a strong reaction to these unilateral changes.
AMAPCEO was unable to address these changes within bargaining because pension entitlements and post-retirement benefits do not form part of our collective agreement.
Subsequent to bargaining, AMAPCEO sought legal counsel on this matter from Goldblatt Partners regarding potential challenges to the Employer’s announced unilateral changes. Based on the wording of our collective agreement, counsel advised us that our legal options were very limited. Other bargaining agents, such as the Association of Law Officers of the Crown (ALOC) and the Ontario Crown Attorneys Association (OCAA), did pursue successful legal actions. However, in making their case, those bargaining agents relied on collective agreement language not found in any other OPS bargaining agent’s collective agreements (AMAPCEO, OPSEU, and PEGO).
AMAPCEO has continued to engage with the Employer on this issue. In September of this year, AMAPCEO secured a significant change to the Employer’s planned post-retirement benefits scheme. Initially, the Employer took the position that enrollment in the cost-shared benefits plan would be compulsory for all retirees. We heard from a number of members who—for whatever reason—did not wish to enroll in the new cost-shared post-retirement benefits plan. AMAPCEO successfully lobbied the Employer to allow for those who did not wish to take part in the new benefits plan to opt-out.
On November 16, 2016, the Employer announced further changes to post-retirement benefits. These new changes emerged from a negotiation with another bargaining agent – OPSEU – over post-retirement benefits for members participating in the OPSEU Pension Trust. The employer has unilaterally applied the OP Trust changes to AMAPCEO members (and all other OPS employees) who participate in the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP).
Prior to these latest changes, all those who were to retire after January 1, 2017 could exercise two options: either enroll in the same benefits plan as currently exists and pay 50 per cent of the premium costs or, alternatively, opt out of the benefit plan altogether and pay nothing for post-retirement benefits.
Under the new changes, those who retire after January 1, 2017 will also have two options: as now, enroll in the same benefits plan that currently exists and pay 50 per cent of the premium costs or, alternatively, accept a lesser version of the benefits plan (with inferior benefits), but at no cost to the retiree. The employer, in other words, will pay 100% of the premium for the new, inferior post-retirement benefits plan.
The trade-off, which was agreed to by OPSEU, is that all new hires who start with the OPS after December 31, 2016, assuming they meet the 20-year minimum service requirement, will be eligible for (a) only the lesser version of the benefits plan (i.e., with benefits inferior to those offered currently) and (b) only if they pay the full cost (or 100%) of the post-retirement benefits premium.
In other words, Employer-provided post-retirement benefits have been eliminated for new OPS staff hired on or after January 1, 2017. AMAPCEO has sought and received clarification that FXT employees who are converted to permanent positions after January 1, 2017 will not be treated as new hires.
AMAPCEO is extremely alarmed by the Employer’s decision to deny retiree benefits to all future hires. The creation of two-tier post-retirement benefits is, in AMAPCEO’s view, a betrayal of the next generation of civil servants and establishes an unfortunate precedent.
We will continue to assess this announcement with staff and legal counsel – including raising a number of questions about this at our next ACERC meeting with the OPS employer.
Sincerely,
Dave Bulmer
President