Yes, the FTQ has set up a new retirement plan called the Régime de retraite par financement salarial. Changes were made to the Quebec Pension Plan rules to allow such a plan to be introduced. As the representatives of the CSN were saying earlier, this is a multi-employer plan that meets the requirements of the smallest companies, while responding to the need to ensure that people have financial security in retirement. These are defined benefit plans wherein risk management is tightly monitored.
Currently, this plan is only available to companies in Quebec that are provincially regulated. However, discussions are now underway to make the plan available to people working at the federal level, as soon as agreements are signed by the different levels of government.
This is a defined benefit plan for the participant—the beneficiary. However, it is a defined contribution plan for the employer, meaning that the risk is shared jointly by all participants, in terms of potential indexation and contributions. It is a plan that may be a little easier to negotiate now under certain circumstances, and one that is more advantageous than what is currently available in companies where group RRSPs or defined contribution plans have been negotiated.
This is an FTQ initiative, and it was the first to set up such a plan. It is also a plan—I don't know whether you have already submitted a brief—which was subsequently put in place by groups of women. Indeed, 80% of the members are women. Thus it has been possible to increase women's coverage in Quebec.