Saint John union worried by pension change rejection

Saint John city union officials are worried because the province hasn't accepted the city's solutions for the ailing pension plan.

Mayor Ivan Court said the province has some "concerns" about the proposed reforms and wants the city to look at some other ideas.

Union leaders wonder if that means the city will be looking for even more concessions to deal with the $129-million deficit.  

Police union president Jamie Hachey said he's frustrated and disappointed.

"I'm having difficultly with this whole situation," he said Thursday.

Hachey said he doesn't understand why the province didn't accept the proposed reforms.

"This was developed collectively between all of the stakeholders with the supervision of a global actuarial firm. And for the province just to arbitrarily not to tell us why and what and where, is not acceptable to the employee groups at this point, I'm sure," he said.

The proposed reforms include changes to employee benefits and spreading out the deficit payments over 25 years to make them more affordable.

Justice Minister Marie-Claude Blais declined to discuss the province's concerns, saying only that the province will continue to work with the city to find solutions.

"The employees … need to know the pension plan to which they've contributed their whole life is working and the money will be there when they retire," she said.

Hachey said city employees agreed to a two-year wage freeze and reductions in benefits and signed collective agreements to that effect.

He said he's worried the city may come back looking for even more concessions — and they could end up back at the bargaining table.

Court said he's hopeful they can come up with a solution that works for everyone within the next couple of months, in time for the fall session of the legislature.

Without changes to the plan, the city could be facing a 12 to 14 per cent tax hike, or up to $10 million in service cuts.

The city would like to delay topping up its employee pension fund, but that requires permission from the provincial government.

The pension deficit is increasing by about $750,000 a month.