Saint John workers 'attacked' in pension deal

Saint John councillors are preparing to remove a long-standing provision in the city’s employee pension plan that indexes benefits to the inflation rate, according to the president of the Saint John Police Association.

Saint John council met behind closed doors on Friday to approve a package of reforms to the pension plan that line up with demands made by the provincial government’s superintendent of pensions.

The city is struggling to deal with a pension deficit last measured at $123 million.

The proposed reforms being discussed that are intended to deal with the pension crisis are stoking anger among employees.

Jamie Hachey, the president of the Saint John Police Association, said the idea that indexation would be removed from the pension system is an attack on workers who have already made concessions to help the city through the pension crisis.

"The city workers are not embracing it. The retirees are extremely upset. And they're going to hold whoever accountable that attacked them," Hachey said.

Saint John Mayor Ivan Court has not discussed the proposed plan in detail.

The plan to deal with the pension deficit has been discussed and tentatively approved by council in a closed session.

The plan must be approved at an open council session next Monday.

The city met with various employee groups — such as unionized workers, non-unionized workers, retirees — last Thursday. 

If the pension deal is ratified at the next council meeting, it must be sent back to the superintendent of pensions. From there, legislative changes would be drafted and introduced inside the legislative assembly.

The Saint John employee pension plan was created by a special act of the provincial legislature so the legislature must approve any reforms.

The provincial government and city of Saint John have been negotiating a solution to the pension crisis for a year.

Saint John initially requested the provincial government extend the payback period to 25 years on its pension deficit. But the provincial government rejected that plan in the spring.

At that point, the city staff were asked to review the proposals. Saint John sent back six different proposals to the provincial government in September that included different degrees of salary and benefit reductions, property tax increases and payback length.

Payback lengths of 15 and 20 years have been considered along with property tax increases of up to 16 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Several city councillors have proposed that property taxes will not be increased to cover off the pension shortfall.