The following letter by CUPE Local 79 President Tim Maguire was sent to Prime Minister Harper to express concerns about the income security of Canada’s retirees and pensioners after plans to cut back on Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Dear Prime Minster Harper,
RE: Who’s being asked to fund the corporate tax cuts?
Our poorest pensioners, that’s who!
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79 is Canada’s largest municipal union representing over 18,000 members from the City of Toronto, Bridgepoint Hospital and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. We are writing to you to express our well-founded concerns about the income security of Canada’s retirees and pensioners. All workers have the right to retire from their jobs with dignity and some measure of economic security.
CUPE Local 79 steadfastly believes in securing decent pensions for our members and all workers in our society. Canada’s public pension programs – Old Age Security (OAS), Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) – have all been successful. In combination they are the basis for a secure retirement income for a majority of Canada’s current and future seniors. The problem is they need to be expanded and increased – not reduced.
The idea of delaying the eligibility of OAS benefits is foolhardy and simply bad economics. Forcing people to work until 67 years of age will only increase the number of unemployed young workers and negatively impact our seniors who have worked hard for years and paid into the system.
Is it fair to ask our poorest pensioners to fund corporate tax cuts, mega-prisons and new jets? Your government is supposed to be the guardian of all the people – particularly senior citizens who have worked hard all their lives and deserve to retire with dignity and economic security.
Yours truly,
Tim Maguire
President
