CEP's pension plan for AbitibiBowater continues to draw mixed reactions

Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union (CEP) has been visiting with AbitibiBowater's mill communities to discuss their idea of replacing the existing pension fund pool for mill workers with a new trust fund.

After a recent meeting in Fort Frances, Ontario, reactions are reported to be mixed.

Some are even livid. The Fort Frances Times interviewed Ernie Cousineau, who has worked for the mill for 35 years and has been the pension rep for CEP Local 306 for the past 16 years.

Cousineau said the pension fund for the Fort Frances and Kenora CEP members, which always has been invested separately from Abitibi’s other pension funds, is in good shape—and that their pensions shouldn’t be risked in a new trust fund meant to pay for a shortfall in the Quebec pension plan.

Read the rest of Cousineau's opinion, and the opinions of others at the meeting:

Mill pension plan draws mixed reaction (Fort Frances Times Online)