CUPE Alberta Responds to Continued Alberta Government Interference in Public Sector Pension Plan

The Government of Alberta’s unilateral changes to AIMCo’s board without any consultation with public sector unions representing members in the Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP) and the Public Sector Pension Plan (PSPP) shows a deep disregard for the fact that pension funds belong to Alberta workers and retirees, not the government.

“This government needs to restore independent decision making for pension plans, not bring in the Minister to manage AIMCo.”

Pension security depends on the ability of unions, through a joint governance model, to make decisions about how public pension funds are managed. Changes in 2019 (Bill 22) undermined joint governance to allow provincial interference and risky political investments.

Originally the jointly-governed LAPP Corporation would have had the ability to change investment providers if they determined that was in the best interests of plan members. The Alberta government in 2019 locked them into AIMCo, however, saying that AIMCo would deliver excellent results. Now they say AIMCo is performing poorly and less efficiently. Members’ unions were never consulted on any of the changes.

“Removing the ability of pension plans to move with their feet undermines pension security,” said President of CUPE Alberta Rory Gill. “The solution for AIMCo performance is to restore the right of pension plan members to choose who administers their retirement savings, not have a government minister continue to interfere through political appointments.”

LAPP has shown that it is better equipped than politicians and AIMCo to make investment decisions. When AIMCo had significant losses in early 2020, LAPP investments did not suffer from the same losses because LAPP implemented its own downside-protection strategy – despite still being required to use AIMCo as an investment fund manager. These decisions by LAPP saved the pension fund almost $1.9 billion dollars.

“Politicians need to stop putting their politics into our pensions. Workers and retirees need their hard-earned savings to be focused on returns and reliability, not risking those savings to serve political agendas of the government of the day,” said Gill. “This government needs to restore independent decision making for pension plans, not bring in the Minister to manage AIMCo.”