News News
CCWIPP Trustees "Totally Failed" Judge Rules
Trustees of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension plan were convicted today of violating the Pension Benefits Act of Ontario. Multiple charges were laid against the trustees in 2006 after an investigation by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario found numerous apparent breaches of pension laws.
The judgment: R. v Christophe et al
CCWIPP Trustees' Bahamas Resort Deal in the Toilet
More bad news for the trustees of the troubled Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension plan. Since 2005, when the Financial Services Commission of Ontario started breathing down their necks about a $50 million investment in a mothballed Bahamas resort, the trustees have been working hard to offload the South Ocean Golf and Beach Resort - or at least, trying to make it look that way.
CCWIPP Financial Statement for 2008 Now Online
uncharted has obtained a copy of the 2008 financial statement for the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP). The news is devastating. Highlights for 2008 include:
- Losses from investments: $9.4 million
- Decrease in net assets: $356 million
- Total return: -19.6%
- Total actuarial liability: $2 billion
- Funded status: 42%
UFCW v. The People: A Trip Down Lawsuit Lane
UFCW President Wayne Hanley's recent hypocritical sermon about online censorship cried out for a rebuttal and I was happy to oblige with a trip down the UFCW's own lawsuit lane. For the benefit of anyone interested in the UFCW's own shameful history of putting the boots to online critics, here are some of the people who have been targeted in the Voice for Working America's decade-long assault on Internet free speech.
Wal-Mart v. UFCW: What Goes Around
When it comes to shameless hypocrisy the leaders of the Canadian UFCW are always trying to push out the boundaries of the known universe. Last week they took things to a whole new level. In a whiny media release, they advised the world that they are being dragged up the courthouse steps by their arch enemies at Wal-Mart Corporation on account of their use of Wal-Mart logos, slogans, color schemes and other "indicia" on www.walmartworkersofcanada.ca, a UFCW-operated web site. Should we be outraged? Not a chance.
On Strike Against Who? Labor Relations Drama Pits Workers Against Communities
As Toronto finds itself in the second week of a strike by 30,000 municipal workers, members of CUPE Locals 79 and 416, a disturbing scene is unfolding. Although the workers' dispute is with the City, the optics of the strike - what the citizens see both in the media and with their own eyes - paint an ugly picture of strikers pitted against their community.
Pension Restructuring Looms for CCWIPP Members
More bad news for members of UFCW Canada's beleaguered CCWIPP pension plan: A notice from the pension plan's trustees this past week announced a -19.6% rate of return for 2008 and warned that "without significant new capital, benefit restructuring will be necessary".
The notice comes as members await the verdict, expected in next month, into dozens of charges under the Ontario Pension Benefits Act that were filed against the trustees in 2006.
Workplace Democracy: The Time is Right
Workplace democracy advocate Rune Olsen is back with a new piece, The DemoCratic Workplace in which he takes a more pragmatic look at how we might go about implementing this new workplace paradigm.
To further explore this subject, how it might work, the changes it might bring and why the time for a change of this magnitude could be more right, check out the Workplace Democracy Q & A.
Is Economic Helter Skelter Looming?
Will the economic meltdown spawn civil unrest in North America - maybe even domestic terrorism? Writing in Truthdig.com Chris Hedges paints a scary picture in an article titled Bad News From America's Top Spy.
We have a remarkable ability to create our own monsters. A few decades of meddling in the Middle East with our Israeli doppelgänger and we get Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, the Iraqi resistance movement and a resurgent Taliban. Now we trash the world economy and destroy the ecosystem and sit back to watch our handiwork. The rest.
Fighting For Their Homes
As the tidal wave of home foreclosures continues to sweep across the US, not all home owners are going quietly off into the street. A new web site, Fighting For Our Homes is bringing us the stories of people who are fighting the lenders who conned them into deceptive schemes that they never imagined would cost them the roofs over their heads. Check out their stories and show support.