Two questions follow from that, and then I'm done. The heightened cost is less concerning to me because pensioners should be fully paid, and if it means that businesses have higher costs in the marketplace to fulfill their obligations to their employees, so be it.
I do share the concern about unintended consequences. I wonder, with the two remaining questions that I have, first, isn't it the case...? I'm counsel for a union, let's say, and the company is in receivership. I don't want the company to go bankrupt if it's going to make my folks worse off, but the superpriority gives me a position of leverage in negotiation. I can always negotiate away from that position, but why would we be opposed to a stronger position that they can negotiate from?
Surely we would be confident in counsel and a restructuring process that is looking after the best interests of pensioners to say, if it truly is the case, the facts on the ground in that particular matter show that forcing the company's hand and maintaining our superpriority over all of our claims is going to send it into insolvency and it will be unable to restructure. Surely we can make that decision, as pensioners, collectively, through counsel, in our best interests. If it is in our best interest to claim now, we'll claim now; if it's in our best interest to take a discount to ensure the company continues to be a going concern, so be it.
Why wouldn't we want them to have that negotiating position?