PLIGHT OF PUBLIC SERVICE PENSIONERS

PUBLISHED IN THE SOUTHERN GAZETTE NEWSPAPER 8 JUNE 2010 AS: THE PLIGHT OF PUBLIC SERVICE PENSIONERS

To: Tom Marshall, Minister of Finance

Mr. Marshall,

My Father, Robert Brentnall, was a Public Servant with the Department of Highways until he retired.

Due to an unannounced government decision that would cease the automatic Cost of Living indexing for pensions, their union did not stipulate it within the Bargaining Agreement due to it being thought of as “automatic”. If our government had stated at that time that they intended to cease the indexing, the contract would have been renegotiated to include cost of living increases. Unfortunately, no one understood the consequences, so nothing was done.

When my father passed away in 2002, my mother continued on receiving his pension and has been trying to survive on $1300 per month. It has caused great hardship and the family has helped her out so she can maintain her home and vehicle that is needed for daily living.

Over the past year, I have seen people who did not work for the Provincial Government receive Severance Pay when the Mill in Grand Falls-Windsor closed and that money was provided utilizing Public Funds, funds that could have been used to update and index the pensions of our retired Public Servants. Public funds were also used to help Kruger Pulp and Paper maintain it's mill, again, nothing to do with Public Service. Hundreds of millions more public funds are being lost on the AbitibiBowater expropriation at the Grand Falls-Windsor mill and still more millions to clean up other sites. Billion's are being spent on the Lower Churchill Project which is in danger of being just another dam on a river if a negotiation cannot be settled to allow the power to flow to buyers.

Yet, the people who spent a lifetime providing safe highways, snowplows, fixing potholes, and keeping our province moving, are being denied a simple cost of living increase in order to allow them to live out the rest of their natural lives knowing they were appreciated by the government they worked for.

Is your government going to take affirmative action on behalf of our Public Service Pensioners who were mislead in 1989, and apply cost of living indexing to the pensions for those affected by the government’s decision at that time?


//signed//
Robin Brentnall
Gambo, NL