Good morning. I want to thank the committee, ladies and gentlemen, for hearing us. First I want to emphasize that we agree on Bill C-501. However, we sincerely believe that additions should be made to it to give it more teeth.
Why? Who is currently suffering most from the deficiencies of Bill C-501? The situation of AbitibiBowater's Gatineau and Dolbeau workers should be enough to bring about changes to Bill C-501. But as my colleague said earlier, we need more than that. What happened at Fraser Papers was abominable.
They took away 35% of total benefits from retirees who were already receiving retirement benefits, in addition to scrapping the pension plans, before other owners started the plant back up.
An even worse situation is that of White Birth Papers, formerly Masson Papers, where they are in the midst of negotiations. There too they are working to try to save pension plans and working conditions. Negotiations are underway, and a conciliation meeting is being held this morning.
The worst part of all that is having the courts sanction all the actions taken against workers in the pulp and paper industry. It has been accepted by the courts that our working conditions have been greatly weakened. The companies are entitled to do that in order to restructure. It's abominable and terrible. Let me tell you that the situation is extremely serious and a major concern because it's all being done with the courts' authorization under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.
The companies now have a right and the opportunity to liquidate their debts. Do you think they hesitate to do so? No, not at all. That's why the act has to be revised and corrected in order to provide better protection for the amounts owed to workers, while equipping them to maintain their pension plans and so on. What's being done is abominable, abominable, and it's spreading to other sectors. Employers have found a crack because Bill C-501 is weak; it has deficiencies. They are weakening our working conditions, our pension plans, termination and severance pay, in addition to penalizing us for unemployment purposes. We'll have to pay money back.
Thank you very much.