This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Update on Nortel Benefits Fight
Diane Urquhart sent me an update on the Nortel benefits fight:
Please watch this November
18th interview by Evan Solomon of Jackie Bodie, a Nortel long term
disabled employee with Parkinson's Disease, and Senator Art Eggleton,
sponsor of Bill S-216:
Watch interview by clicking here.
Jackie Bodie says:
"Take
a position. Do the right thing. Pass Bill C-216. It is the right thing
to do. By doing nothing, by leaving us hanging, in my opinion, they
are effectively giving their blessing to the court judge and lawyers we
are dealing with to bury us alive. I do not know why. I do not
understand what I and 400 other sick people did wrong to be treated
like this."
Below
are the videos of the Senate Banking Trade and Commerce Committee
Hearings on Bill S-216, which were held on November 17 and 18, 2010.
This is a bill to amend the Federal bankruptcy laws to provide for the
preferred status of long term disability wage loss replacement income
and medical benefit claims above the unsecured creditors at bankrupt
employers. These claims arise when employers promise to pay long term
disability benefits and then self-insure them without setting aside any
or enough money in a trust account to fund these benefits in the event
the employer were to become bankrupt.
Without
Bill S-216 or another Federal Government alternative, there are 375
Nortel long term disability employees losing their disability income and
medical reimbursement in six weeks time.
The
anticipated cash settlement approved by Justice Morawetz at the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice from the Nortel Health and Welfare
Trust can fund only about 30% of their previous disability income, which
means their incomes fall to 15% to 21% of the income they had before
they got sick. The average CPP disability income is only $9,700 per
year, with the maximum at $13,510 per year if there has been enough
years service and income up until the start of the disability.
The
Health and Welfare Trust distribution decision of J. Morawetz is being
appealed by the dissenting Nortel Long Term Disabled Employees. Bill
S-216 takes these very sick and injured Canadians out of the court
process, by eliminating the need for this appeal. Bill S-216 with its
transitional provision will permit the Nortel disabled to continue their
disability income and medical reimbursement until their age 65, death
or recovery from their disability.
Senate Banking Trade and Commerce Meeting No. 29
Room 9, Victoria Building, 140 Wellington Street, Ottawa
Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM EST 120 minutes
Senate Banking Trade and Commerce Meeting No. 28
Room 9, Victoria Building, 140 Wellington Street, Ottawa
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 4:15 PM - 6:15 PM EST 120 minutes
Take
it from someone who knows firsthand that your life can turn around very
quickly if you're diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening disease.
I understand Jackie Bodie's and Peter Burns' frustration. These people
are desperate and sick and they shouldn't be fighting in bankruptcy
court. They deserve to be treated fairly and honorably, and the Canadian
government better get its act together and pass Bill C-216 as soon as
possible. This is a shameful chapter in the long Nortel saga. Let's hope
justice finally prevails for Nortel's disabled.
»
- advertisements -
Leo,
Your ignorance is truly amazing. yes it is horrible what happenedto these people but blame the management not the creditors. If something was done ILLEGALLY than fine go after them. But changing laws to the detriment is IDIOTIC and causes pain to the average worker. Do this and you have literally put thousands out of work. It isn't scare monerging - it's a fact.
Passing this bill would be horrible and would put tons of people out of work.
There is no valid reason to prefer folks with disability benefits over creditors.
Leo,
Do you understand that if this bill goes through - the very people you think will be helped will actually be harmed IMMEASURABLY. The cost of borrowing will skyrocket in Canada and no one will lend money to any company with a pension. These people would never have had jobs in the first place if investors hadn't given them money to operate. Now after the Company squandered away investor money you want to change the rules?
Of course we should all feel bad for people in need but that doesn't mean throw away common sense. If so lets just turn Communist and get it over with. The Company, investors, employees, pensions all knew the rules of the game. The only reason these people HAD A PENSION was because of the investors. Pass this bill and Canada immediately goes into recession. That's a fact.
And here is Diane's comment:
More of the same from people who do not do any research on LTD benefit plans in general and certainly do not know the precise facts of the Nortel LTD benefit situation. I have done my homework and I am confident that priority for LTD benefit claims will have negligible impact on the cost and availability of credit overall in an economy and probably in each and every single corporate bankruptcy case
Money taken from the trust accounts for the disabled is a serious wrongdoing, that I say is a misappropriation of trust assets while the debtor was acting in the capacity of fiduciary to the disabled. The same action of withdrawing employer contributions from pension plans in Canada is a criminal offence, which when proven in court has the penalty of a jail sentence. The same consideration should be applied to Health and Welfare Trusts.
Diane
And here in the US, tampering with the money system is supposed to be punishable by death, but of course that isn't happening either.
So what you are telling me is that pensioners and long-term disabled should take a back seat to bondolders and Nortel management who took in millions in bonuses after they declared bankruptcy? And what about John Roth who sold all his shares at the height of the bubble right before the tech crash? Should we commend him for being a good capitalist? Please, common sense went out the door years ago. As for the cost of credit going up in Canada if we pass this bill, I know you love scare mongering, but I don't see the big deal in securing pensions and especially in securing long-term disability entitlements for the most vulnerable employees facing serious illnesses. We need common sense and we should show compassion to society's most vulnerable.
Leo,
You obviously haven't thought through the effects this bill would have on capital formation.
Creditors either will not lend to these companies if the bill passes, or will charge higher rates, which means fewer jobs. And to benefit who? The disabled, who seek an entitlement that they, in most cases, have not paid for and was merely promised to them?
Well guess what, all sorts of promises have been made and they can not and will not be kept. The sooner we recognize this and clean up our messes, and learn not to rely on such promises, the better.
Then, you certainly must be against any bank or insurance bailouts or QE?
What, we bail out the banks and corporations with taxpayer money then all of a sudden discover "austerity" and "capital formation" and "the rule of law" when it comes to the individual?
Yes, I am against any bank or insurance bailouts and I am against QE.
Are those pictures from the WHEELCHAIR MONSTER RACES 2010?!
PIMPED OUT RIDES BITCHEZ!! THOSE RIDES ARE NOXED!
Nortel is bloody bankrupt!
In layman's terms, that means it cannot pay all of its obligations.
I don't think one's personal need should overrule the law and give you special dispensation. Every party in a bankruptcy has a priority based on the nature of their claim and the law. We can't bloody set aside the rule of law for each and every special circumstance, or else we will just have the rule of men. Everyone, handicapped and differently-handicapped alike will fare poorly then.
C'mon, do you believe that the fat cats and bankers are losing any skin over this? Oh no, the benefits and pensions go first; the promises to the employess who put in for twenty years are gone overnight.
The fat salaries, the bonuses, the cars, the gifts, the trinkets - all those are kept and stored in the safe, and they are never ever clawed back - not even for the sick and the dying.
The present court system and passive populace protects the wicked and prevents any kind of justice beyond lip service and appearances that last long enough for those betrayed to die or be forgotten or downtrodden.
Reminds me of United, and every other "bankruptcy" designed to rip-off the employee; or the non-bankruptcy bailouts courtesy the taxpayer.
Screwing the individual citizen, whether by coroporate or governemnt reversal of decades of promises, is the Devil in the living room with two horns.
Bastards.
Sounds like GM V1.0... screw everyone you can. But WAIT, GM V2.0 is the darling of CNBC.
Wonder what GM V3.0 will look like in 2015.
I'll give it a twenty to one shot that it's going to turn into a commission Leo. Guess what happens then?
Nothing. Squat. Bugger all.
I predict a Commission Captial Pensions. Want to bet a beer they get capital value of their pensions? It'll have been hard to accept this, but pensions in private companies simply don't mean fuck all anymore.
You want a future? You steal it. You make it? Or die for it...that's the future. No more nonsense of left or right, doesn't matter anymore. Just sit in the chair, shut up and watch it burn with the rest of us. We will serve justice after the fact and keep names., that's all we can do. The law doesn't matter anymore at all.