Nurses want assurance their pensions won’t be rolled back

WINNIPEG - MNU President Sandi Mowat is calling on provincial party leaders to state clearly where they stand on the pension plan for Manitoba nurses. During this campaign, Manitoba's PC party has said it is open to the CFIB proposal to move new hires from the defined benefit pension plan to a weaker defined contribution plan (PC response to election questionnaire from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Sept. 8, 2011). Nurses deserve to know if the next government of Manitoba will be cutting their pension plan,"said Mowat. "A strong pension plan is critical to recruiting and retaining the nurses that Manitoba needs." Last year, Manitoba nurses negotiated improvements to their pension plan.  The Manitoba Nurses Union wants all party leaders to provide clear assurance that the agreement to increase contributions to the nurses'pension will be respected. "In recent years, Manitoba nurses have closed the gap on wages,"said Mowat. "Attacking our pensions would be a big step backwards." Nurses in every Canadian province have a defined benefit pension plan. Moving to a weaker defined contribution plan would drive nurses to other provinces. CFIB Question: "Will you address the public/private sector pension gap by gradually moving new hires from defined-benefit to defined-contribution pension plans?" PC Party Response: "We will review approaches to decreasing the public/private sector pension gap." For more information please contact: Bill Crawford Coordinator Communications and Government Liaison (204) 792-0206 Samantha Turenne Communications Officer (204) 250-7554