(Montreal) While Finance Minister Eric Girard tries to calm concerns about the changes to the Quebec Pension Plan that are being examined, the FTQ warns him that he will face a significant mobilization if the minimum age of Eligibility is deferred from age 60 to 62.
Quebec is currently conducting consultations on this plan, weighing various options, in particular that of postponing from 60 to 62 the minimum age of eligibility for a retirement pension. The “normal” retirement age remains at 65. But it is possible to retire earlier, with penalties.
So far, the idea of this general postponement of the minimum age has not aroused enthusiasm, especially since the financial health of the plan is good, by the admission of Minister Girard.
The organizations that represent workers and retirees have especially insisted on the fact that certain trades are more physically demanding than others: in construction, in slaughterhouses or among blue-collar workers, for example.
Some workers are so exhausted, so mortgaged, that they cannot continue until they are 65, argued the presidents of the FTQ and the CSN.
“With the 60-62 year old, the discontent is already taken”, warned the new president of the FTQ, Magali Picard.
“We are coming out of a convention of the FTQ where there were two resolutions brought and where there was unanimity of the 1200 people. There is no question of the FTQ remaining silent. I tell you: it is not a storm in February that will prevent workers in Quebec from mobilizing,” she told Minister Eric Girard.
Girard tries to reassure
The Minister of Finance tried to calm things down, seeing dissatisfaction grow among the organizations that testified or filed briefs.
“There is no change that is going to be rushed. Any changes that are being considered would have an adequate transition period,” he said.
With regard to the “difficult” nature of the jobs, namely those that are more physically demanding, the Minister wondered aloud whether it was up to the Quebec Pension Plan to take this into account in order to possible retirements at 60 or 61, rather than private pension plans.
Employers to be flexible
Similarly, both the FTQ and the CSN insisted on the need for employers to show flexibility if they want to keep experienced workers employed. “It takes employers who are ready to be flexible,” said CSN President Caroline Senneville.
These incentives can be the sharing of a full-time position between two experienced employees who would thus work fewer hours each week, for example, or changes to the work schedule to accommodate them or other changes to the organization of work.
In general, the FTQ, the CSN and the Quebec Association of Retirees from the Public and Parapublic Sectors have called for the adoption of incentive rather than “punitive” measures if Quebec wants to keep experienced workers employed.