So many pension plans dropped into the red last year that the federal government is considering changing a law to give companies 10 years to make up for shortfalls -- double what they are given now.
But that's a bad idea, according to Trevor Breese, an ex-employee of the bankrupt Harmac pulp mill near Nanaimo. He may lose the retirement money he worked for over the past 20 years.
"It just leaves more people in the same boat [my wife] Corina and I are in, where the company has gone bankrupt and the pensions aren't safe," he says.
The mill's retirement fund has recently dropped to being $17 million under-funded from $5 million over-funded before the recession hit.
The Breeses have worked at the mill for more than two decades and were starting to think about retiring.
"We were told that the pension was safe," Corina said. "We never thought it would happen to us."
The B.C. Superintendant of Pensions is deciding between two alternatives to disperse the remaining money. Either all the pension plan members, including retirees, lose 20 per cent of their money, or the retirees receive a full pension while those under age 55 get nothing.
But some are not impressed.
"It's not fair. It's our money we contributed just as much as everybody else did in the pension plan," said Breese.
When the softwood lumber dispute was settled a few years ago, employees thought they would share in the $127 million windfall, but the pension plans received nothing.
Federal law prevents companies from over-funding plans by more than 10 per cent, which means that when times are tough, nearly all pension plans move from a surplus to a deficit.
They are facing the prospect of having to start over, planning for their retirement when they should be enjoying it.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
