IT’S TIME TO LOBBY YOUR MPP NOW

IT’S ALSO TIME TO LOBBY THE MINISTER OF FINANCE GREG SORBARA

To Members of SSPO:

It is now critical that we lobby the different levels of government to inform them of our concern over Stelco’s stated intention of addressing what they call “the high cash funding cost for pension plans and other employee benefit plans.” It is clear that the pensions and benefits of Stelco’s salaried pensioners are under threat. We have been told by our legal counsel that the importance of the political pressure that can be applied by you cannot be overstated.

We urge you to also send a letter to Minister of Finance Greg Sorbara, copy to Management Board of Cabinet, Chairman Gerry Phillips. Mr. Sorbara is a member of the Management Board of Cabinet.

There are at least two issues which you should raise with your MPP and the Minister Of Finance:

· the need for funding the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund (PBGF) which, we understand, does not have enough money to support Stelco’s pensions if they are wound up, and,

· the need for increasing the PBGF minimum guaranteed monthly pension from $1000 to $2500 to account for inflation since PBGF was established.

There are other issues noted in the attached SSPO “Backgrounder” file. Click Here to view.

You can either write your own letter or use the attached example.

In addition to you emailing your MPP it will be important for you to get family members and friends to do the same. To that end, a separate sample letter is also attached.

Click Here for Sample Of E-Mail Or Letter To MPP From Pensioner.

Click Here for Sample Of E-Mail Or Letter To MPP From Family Member Or Friend.

Click Here for Listing Of Targeted MPP’s & Link to Official Government Of Ontario E-Mail List.

Click Here for Complete Listing Of All Ontario MPP E-Mail and Mailing Address.

Click Here for SSPO Backgrounder, The Root of Stelco’s Pension Plan Problem, and Ontario Government culpability.

Click Here for an example of SSPO Political Committee meeting with a local MPP (Toby Barret). To view a letter received from Minister of Finance Greg Sorbara in response to that meeting Click Here. Please note these two letters are posted in Acrobat PDF format (v 3.0 minimum). A FREE copy of the software required to view Acrobat PDF files is available for downloading by clicking here.