Manitoba Telecom Services 

LOOTING WORKERS PENSIONS 

Manitoba

Manitoba Telecom Services reaches pension deal with retirees

 Telecom Services Inc. (TSX:MBT) says it has reached agreement with its unions and retirees over implementing a court ruling that a multimillion-dollar pension surplus that existed when the former Manitoba Telephone System was privatized in 1997 belonged to the workers and retirees.

Manitoba Telecom said the company and its advisory have been working closely with its unions and retiree representatives for several month to develop an implementation plan, which it said was “unanimously agreed to” Wednesday by all parties.

The Supreme Court of Canada earlier this year upheld a lower court ruling that the company did not have a right to the surplus, which was $43.3-million at the time. It has since grown to $140 million with interest calculated at a rate equal to the pension plan’s rate of return since 1997, according to figures in the agreement.

Key point of the agreement provide:

— Total enhanced benefits available under the settlement will equal $140 million as of July 1, 2014. Thereafter the amount will grow at the rate of two per cent per annum until court approval.

— Of the total, about $30 million will be paid in 2014 or early 2015 by the company directly to MTS employees who are members of its defined benefit pension plan.

— The remaining balance of about $110 million will be funded from MTS’ defined benefit pension plan and will be used to pay retirees and other persons with interests in the plan, and also pay expenses associated with the settlement. This amount will be funded by MTS over time and in accordance with federal statutory funding obligations

Nigeria Mulls $20 Billion Offers to Sell Transmission Assets

By Yinka Ibukun and Eleni Giokos September 15, 2014

Canadian Managers

Officials are deciding which model to adopt for the company’s sale. Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board of Canada’s three-year management contract ends next year. The process could take the form of a public-private partnership, a concession or a build-operate-transfer, Nebo said.

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In this BLOG we will look at pensions and their impact on what are called Public Private Partnerships or P3’s.  IT will also deal with other pension matters, such as Defined Contribution Plans (DC) vs Defined Benefit (DB) PLANS, the weakness in private plans, the need for pension reform in public pensions to have shareholder rights, directorships and ethical investment directives and policies