Pensions

[Eric.B]

It's actually a developed world thing. In most of the developed world if you work in a trade skill that is represented by a union, that union attempts to get companies to invest in retirement funds or pensions for their members. I know this is true for most European and American manufacturers. It is probably the same for the AMWU as well...

It's a wording thing. As I said in Australia a pension is a federal government thing. We do have retirement funds but we call them Superannuation though I don't think they work the same as the American ones.

I would say if they are introduced their exact effect should depend on the country your mill is in (and be different for each mill in a different country). In Aus they are government regulated and essentially are just and extra 9% pay that gets put into your retirement fund which for us would simply appear as higher wages for Australian factories. I dare say the European and American ones not only work very different to that but also different to each other.

We also have a federal government plan. But that doesn't mean that there isn't private ones or that the auto companies don't pay into your state ran system on AMWU's behalf. (If not then AMWU is pretty weak at killing... I mean HELPING workers! *cough*)