Police oppose Saint John pension reform plan

The Saint John Police Association plans to lobby local MLAs to oppose reforms to the city's pension plan.

Saint John councillors approved a plan on Monday that will freeze the salaries of some municipal workers and water down their benefits.

Before the reforms can be enacted, the legislative assembly still needs to approve the pension reform plan.

Under the proposed changes, the city's police officers will lose disability benefits and new officers will pay into a defined contribution plan, instead of a defined benefits plan.

Bob Davidson, a labour analyst working with the association, said the police association wants to explore other options and it believes the MLAs will be receptive to the idea.

Davidson said he will speak with the city's MLAs about whether they will vote for the reform package.

Davidson said Saint John council rejected the association's request to present an alternate proposal to council Monday night.

The police association wants to create a separate, jointly-funded plan for police, and says officers are willing to pay more into the fund instead of taking benefit cuts.

City firefighters and inside workers have not agreed to the concessions, designed to deal with the $129-million pension shortfall, either.

Davidson said if the provincial legislature approves the reforms, it will be the first time the city's pension plan has been amended unilaterally since it was enacted in 1947.