December 31, 1999. Only employees hired before this date have their pension benefits up to December 31, 1999 in this Plan and all employees, effective January 1, 2000 are included in the OMERS Pension Plan.
At the annual Pension Committee Meeting held on June 8, 2018, the Committee recognized the declining “active” membership of The Plan. The Committee discussed the value of adding Retired Members of The Plan to the Committee composition, recognizing that in the coming years, fewer and fewer active members would continue to be employed by Transit Windsor since it was a Closed Pension Plan and no members were added after January 1, 2000.
At that meeting, the Committee tasked Mercer to investigate the potential to add Retired Members of The Plan to the Committee composition. In Mercer’s evaluation, it was determined that adding Retirees of The Plan was allowable but would require a few amendments to The Plan. These changes were approved in a May 2019 report (S83/2019) to the Environment, Transportation and Public Safety Standing Committee, and are as follows:
“13.02 Pension Review Committee
The Board of Directors shall appoint a Pension Review Committee to be composed of:
(a) three individuals, as appointed by the Union, selected from Participants who are all members of Local 616 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, and Retired Participants who were former members of Local 616 of the Amalgamated Transit Union; and
(b) three individuals, as appointed by the Company, selected from Participants and Retired Participants who are not or were not members of Local 616 of the Amalgamated Transit Union; and
(c) a chairman, who is a Participant, appointed by the Company from a list submitted by the Pension Review Committee, to whom it will delegate certain functions including the analysis of, the review of and the submission of recommended improvements to the Plan for consideration by the Board of Directors prior to implementation.”
Discussion:
Patrick Delmore, Executive Director of Transit Windsor had been appointed as the Committee Chair in 2015. With his pending retirement, a replacement is required to be appointed by Transit Windsor. As per the Plan Document, the Chair must be an active member of The Plan, one who began working at Transit Windsor prior to The Plan freeze on December 31, 1999. Michael Duval is a non-union employee who was hired in 1998 and as such, is eligible to assume the duties of Chair. Administration recommends this appointment.
Patrick Delmore has been a member of the Committee for a number of years and has acted as the Chair since 2015. With his pending retirement, he is required to step down