You can trust OPT: That’s why it’s called OPSEU Pension Trust

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Our pension

It’s critically important. CSN wants to take away corrections workers’ OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust) pension plan and replace it with the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP). They say don’t sweat it, it’ll be the same – believe us!

But you can’t trust your pension with CSN

With CSN and the PSPP, you get:

Less money in retirement

At age 65, the PSPP will pay us less – 1.5% to 3.5% less. As a correctional officer, youth services worker or nurse, your annual pay will be $1,000 lighter. As an Office Admin 8, you’ll have to get by with $800 less. That’s fewer dollars every day for the rest of your life and your spouse’s life.

Even less money if you’re married

The PSPP will punish us at retirement – for being married! That’s right: it pays less to compensate for survivor benefits – just when you need the money most. Not OPTrust. It fully subsidizes survivor benefits.

Less control

The PSPP will take all control out of our hands. It has one sponsor: the employer. In a post-pandemic world of budget cuts, they could hit us hard – public servants with a defined-benefit pension designed for managers. Everything could be on the table: contribution hikes, benefit cuts, cost-of-living increases, defined benefits themselves. It’s the employer’s call and the employer’s call alone.

Less protection

The PSPP? It’s not fully funded – even after the government bailed it out every single year from 2006 to 2019. After all the pandemic spending, don’t bank on Doug Ford bailing out what he probably sees as your “gold-plated” pension. OPTrust? At more than 100% funded, it’s robust and healthy.

Less in contributions?

CSN claims the PSPP will save you $1,280 annually in contributions annually over 35 years. False! Because pension contributions are 100% tax deductible, your net saving would be less than $800. Further, corrections workers’ average years of service at retirement is just 25 years.

Now check out OPTrust

There are two sponsors. OPSEU and the employer. The employer can do nothing without OPSEU’s agreement. CSN says we can’t negotiate? They’re just plain wrong – we do it all the time. CSN is either just plain stupid or just plain lying.

OPTrust is also jointly trusteed. Trustees are appointed by the union and the employer. Union appointees have a fiduciary duty to you and me – the plan members. Guess what: There are no union-appointed trustees on the PSPP! It’s the employer’s way or the highway.

Who will you trust with your retirement?

Pensions are vital but complicated. You have to be able to trust your union to know what they’re doing. CSN’s documentation is rife with errors and weasel words to cover up their sloppy research and inept analysis. They even admit they didn’t consult the actual plan text!

OPTrust has nothing to hide. There’s a reason OPTrust is rated higher than PSPP, and recognized as one of the top three pension plans in the world by global pension ranking firm CEM Benchmarking.

Are you a gambler? Are you ready to put up a few hundred bucks during your highest earning years against years of lost money in retirement when you need it most? Then go ahead and roll the CSN dice.

But if crossing your fingers isn’t your idea of retirement security, then stick with OPTrust, the tried and true pension plan – brought to you by OPSEU. Because risking your comfortable retirement is one more worry you don’t need.