CUPE's Strike and SAHO Pension
Nipawin - April 22, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis
direct management	Today, CUPE health care workers are on strike at some eighteen health care districts across
	the province(1). The main contentious issues are employee scheduling and pension. I am
	happy that finally after years and years of pension mismanagement at the Saskatchewan
	Association of Health organizations (SAHO), CUPE and other five unions are taking steps
	to better their pension plan and to allow a more direct management of the over billion dollar
	SAHO pension fund.
plan be terminated	The SAHO pension plan is a bastardized version of an original pension plan which was
	designed to financially discriminate against union employees so that the top dogs of the
	health care system could reap the benefit of their mismanagement(2). The health care
	unions are right in demanding higher contributions for their pension plan especially so
	when SAHO states that if the plan experiences a deficit, benefits would be reduced and
	that if deficits continue, SAHO is recommending that the entire plan be terminated(3).
incompetence	The Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations reduced pension benefits in
	early 90's and at that time I realized that the pension members at large were not properly
	notified as per the plan document. Also, the fact that SAHO threatens the unions in
	recommending a possible termination of the pension plan all together is a further
	understanding of the utter ignorance and incompetence of the top dogs at the helm of
	the health care leadership.
money purchase plan	Therefore, I strongly advise the unions to strive for increased pension contributions, to
	have a direct say in the management of their pension plan and fund, and to definitely
	change their pension plan from a formula plan to a money purchase plan(4) where there
	would not be either any additional expense for actuarial consulting services or any deficit.
------------References/endnotes:
	List of relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com
1. -	Strike! Health workers walk out, CBC Saskatchewan, June 8, 2001 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/08/otherunions010608
2. -	A dangerous turn in the history of SAHO: from Hewitt Helmsing to Louise Simard, by Mario deSantis, April 11, 2000
3. -	Unions warn of labour unrest unless improvements are made to SAHO Pension Plan, CUPE Saskatchewan News Release, June 4, 2001 http://www.cupe.sk.ca/nr-june4-01.htm
4. -	Pension formula plans: Are actuarial firms told to ass-u-me too much?, by Mario deSantis, January 15, 2001