Stories delving into how employers and employees are dealing with returning to the workplace dominated the top stories over the past week on BenefitsCanada.com, with three of the five stories focusing on this timely topic. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. RBC focusing on mental health as hybrid work model rolls out 2. SAP […]
Indigenous and racialized seniors have less retirement security and higher poverty rates than white seniors in Canada, according to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Based on data from the 2016 census, the report found Indigenous seniors have an average income of $32,200 and a poverty rate of 21.5 per cent, […]
An environmental coalition is appealing to Ontario teachers to pressure their pension fund to divest from companies that develop or transport fossil fuel products. In a four-minute YouTube video, a group of students from across Ontario read a letter to their teachers, asking them to push the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to stop investing their […]
The Public Service Alliance of Canada is reiterating a call for its pension investment manager to divest its ownership in Revera Inc. over the company’s safety record during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the fund should “pull out of the business of long-term care” altogether. The public sector union, which represents 140,000 public sector pension plan members, first said […]
For years, a major public sector pension governance time bomb has been hidden in plain sight. But it may be too late to alert the bomb squad; the coronavirus pandemic and climate change may have already activated a countdown that can’t be stopped. Investment management is a key component of sustainability and central to any pension governance […]
The Canada Climate Law Initiative is calling into question whether the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is sufficiently aligning its investments with the transition to a low-carbon economy. In a legal analysis, the organization said the pension fund’s current allocations to high-carbon assets reveal a “troubling incrementalism” within its efforts to mitigate Canadians’ exposure to […]
Faced with ballooning and unsustainable public pension liabilities, Taiwan’s government was forced to make a tough decision. In 2017, the country’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party passed a bill to dramatically cut retirement benefits for the country’s civil servants, public school teachers, police officers, firefighters and private sector workers. The changes were unpopular, but necessary. Underfunded […]
U.S. public pension funds can expect to see hurdles from the coronavirus crisis similar to those experienced in past recessions, according to a new report by Cerulli Associates. In the past two recessions, public plans saw a decrease in their funded statuses. “According to survey data gathered form the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, […]
Canada Post Corp. employees and some retirees are receiving retroactive wage increases, as well as adjustments to their disability and life insurance and pensions, through two new collective agreements between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the crown corporation. The agreements between Canada Post and its rural and suburban and urban postal service workers — represented by two […]
When Canadian taxpayers are on the hook for public sector pension plan obligations, these institutions must spell that out clearly in their financial reporting, according to a new paper by the C.D. Howe Institute. “Reporting of pension costs as they accrue and net obligations at a point in time is tricky,” wrote William Robson, the organization’s chief […]