The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador says retirees that belong to the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) and Teachers’ Pension Plan (TPP) will not be affected as a result of ongoing pension reform discussions.
“This process is a co-operative effort, and no changes will be made to the pension plans overnight,” says Premier Kathy Dunderdale. “Our goal is to work together to ensure the sustainability of the pension plans for current and future employees.”
There are 25,000 retirees in the PSPP and the TPP. In addition to ensuring there will be no changes to retirees’ pensions, including maintaining the current indexing program, government is maintaining a health plan for retirees.
The government has been in discussions with stakeholders on pension reform that began with a meeting in June.
In addition, the province has hired actuarial consultants to do a high-level pension-related analysis and will share all the information with stakeholders.
As of March 31, 2012, unfunded pension and other post-retirement liabilities represented approximately $5 billion and accounted for approximately 64% of the province’s net debt.
Since 1997, nearly $4.5 billion in special payments have been contributed to the pension plans, yet the outstanding unfunded liability continues to grow.
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