[Ar open letter te Ben Huntington, M.LP. 5) Dear Sir: This is further to my letter to you of: June 21, -1977, which dealt with the indexing of the Federal Civil Servants Superannuation. Pensions. In that letter I urged you to - support the indexing of these penions, but I suggested that you would probably.be.under — some pressure by ‘ ‘bi business’’ S and others ignor- -.. ant of the true facts of the matter, to take the opposite view. It would appear from the news release in the local ‘*‘Sunday News’’ (enclosed), . dated July 17, 1977, contain- ing statements attributed to you, that you have indeed taken the opposite view. Since you did not state all the facts and figures néces- sary for the public to determine the truth of the matter, one can only assume that you are playing politics with the popular theme that the retired civil burden on the taxpayers. The servant is a - truth of the matter is that the “billion Ae ame Re Mare crim Hua PHAR ope alt retired civil servant is no | more a burden on . economy and taxpayers than any other retired worker,. _ including Members of Parlia- . ment corporations etc... ‘the © and executives _ _ of - Here are some of the facts as I understand them after. “ some investigation: 1. The Superannuation Fund now stands at close to 9 dollars, and ithe Supplementary Retirement Benefits Account (from, which the indexing of pen- sions is taken care of) appears to be in excess of 56 million dollars. Both funds are made up by contribu- tions from the gross pay of each and every Civil Servant - the deduction being 7 1/2% of the gross amount of every | Made ‘to measure to your Tues.-Gat. . inflation regular sizes at factory prices. 4388 Main St., North Vancouver ust eust of Venice Bakery] 10: 00 1.5230 p.m. (closed a on | Monday! | a CHARGEX OF MASTERCHANGE. The Govern- ment pays in a .maiching pay cheque. amount which is. always . considered ‘a. fringe’ benefit - : and is taken ‘into account. _ when wages are bargained for. The gross pay for Civil . Servants is therefore always somewhat .less than that for _ corresponding. positions out- side the Service, the amount paid into the Fund by the Government compensating: in part for the difference: In** effect the civil servant is: paying in 15% of the gross amount of his true wages. - The Fund belongs to the Civil ‘Servants but is operated by the Government. 2 Both funds “draw i inter- est - that of the Superannu- ation Fund has lately been raised from 5% to 7%, and the indexing fund appears to -be earning-about 5.9%. Both rates of interest: rare: set: sby® the Government. . 3. To date, the interest on both Funds has been more than sufficient. to pay all © pensions and indexing - the surplus to accumulate ™ in each respective Fund. 4. Since the Superannua- tion Fund was started in 1924 (1. believe), the. rates of — contribution | have’ steadily risen over the years in order. to keep the Fund soluble. A few years ago it was found . that previously retired Civil Servants were: suffering con-. siderable hardship. in that: had“ consumed a- large — Proportion | ‘of indexed at that time. Afier a considerable. -hassle in the House of Commons. it -was finally acknowledged that these pensioners deserved a better break and an increase in their pensions was agreed _ upon However, it. was also decided .by the Government." increase ‘ should: {| come from the Fund, which that this direct from our factory : ., ladies & men's coats & jackets color & size specifications. i | 980-68 l 3_ have . - indexing. SO: far, by, increased | their . - pensions’ which were. ‘not | had to: be supplemented by: ae werk ooh ter from the | ing* ¢ Bs ‘ were “deductions Mes all: e “pay ©: cheques were therefore rais- ed for.this purpose; bringing © the total:present deduction to 7 72% “of gross pay. This, _ then was: the beginning, -of . inde osing 2 and resulted i in the - Pe SE tary ‘Benefits Account. It is” important to note that the increase granted to previous- ‘ly retired Civil Servants thus came from presently employ- ed Servants, ~ not. taxpayer. it is ‘therefore apparent > that the Civil Servant ‘so far has not been a__ financial burden on the taxpayer. That there may “be too many: of them is: another story; and. depends on what. and how. © -much Service “the ‘public. expects. — Your ‘concern that. cost of the. **uncapped”’ index ‘is ‘thérefore unfounded. - - as 1 have ‘pointed out the civil - servants themselves taken care of the ‘ éontfibutions? ‘Is*thére any reason to believe that, should inflation make it necessary, they won't be called upon for ‘increased. “contributions in the future? It. is speculation by opponents of indexing that’ the taxpayer ‘will have to bear any extra costs in this respect. It is my. opinion that if this huge fund | were: properly i invested there; Let Us and or cea water provi, the. title ~LIBRAR - stuffy and even a little. ‘the . -ies. didn’t exist?””. children are instructed as to the various uses of their local Shelves, You the _ taxpayer will have to bear the only | courses, as ng ‘did last week, “KNOW YOUR ’? might’sound a bit boring, but. really, . what. could be boring about books, and thé other myriad uses of your public library? * Prove | this by trying to imagine ‘‘what if the librar- libraries, but we who got our education: -before | resource --centres were invented per- haps don’t realize. just what a | wealth . of information . lies hidden’ ‘in’ those loaded tans. ‘You can nask them anything 2 ‘and. if they don’t know the “answer, they'll find it for you. This 10-week course will show you how to make the ~most of the reference works, “and other library skills that’ | will be forever useful. 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