The War on Pensions
The drive to dismantle the welfare state has a new target. Governments have already gutted unemployment insurance and social assistance. Out-of-date labour laws make it tough to organize unions in the new, decentralized, service-based economy. Now, thanks in large part to the dynamics of the recession, pensions are under attack.
Curiously, the war against pensions has received less attention than it should.
. . . .
Meanwhile, the successful assault on trade unions reduced the ranks of those with access to any kind of company pension scheme. In Canada, less than 40 per cent of the work force has employer-sponsored pensions. The proportion in the private sector is even less.
Yet these, too, are now under siege.
Consider the latest spate of labour disputes.
I linked to this in the NDP next election strategy thread. But it is worthwhile on its own I suppose.
Particularly since there's no guarantee the NDP will makes this a main cog in their next election strategy.
At the same time, private firms offering pensions discovered the virtue of moving to so-called defined contribution plans, which shift all of the risk from employers to employees. (In a traditional, defined benefit pension plan, the employer guarantees a certain payout at retirement and is on the hook to fund it. In a defined contribution plan, the employer contracts only to put in a certain amount each year; if market vagaries cause that money to evaporate before the employee retires, that's his tough luck.)
Meanwhile, the successful assault on trade unions reduced the ranks of those with access to any kind of company pension scheme. In Canada, less than 40 per cent of the work force has employer-sponsored pensions. The proportion in the private sector is even less.
The neoliberal agenda is still being implemented with the helping hand of the Canadian state. They want more Canadians to be part of the flexible labour market voodoo that hasnt worked anywhere in the world where tried.
WB fidel!
Gracias amiga