Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Natural Resources made the government's announcement of the future direction for Devco, he indicated that Devco's management wished to review the human resource packages with union representatives. Some of those discussions have already been held.
The $111 million in funding which has been approved by the government for workforce adjustment measures include $60 million for an early retirement incentive program, $46 million for severance packages and $5 million for training for employees who will receive severance packages.
The criteria to determine eligibility for the early retirement incentive program have not been pulled out of a hat. They are the criteria that were negotiated between Devco and its unions through a joint planning committee in 1996. They are the criteria that Devco's collective agreements indicate shall apply to the early retirement incentive program for any further workforce reductions.
I want to make it clear that the early retirement incentive program has no relationship to the pension benefits that Devco's employees have earned through participation in one of the corporation's pension plans. Workers will continue to be eligible for any earned pension benefits.
I also want to make it clear that the provisions of Devco's collective agreements with its unions will be honoured. These provisions indicate that in the event of a site closure employees shall be laid off in reverse order of seniority.
This means that many of the longer serving employees who will not be eligible under the early retirement incentive program will continue to be employed.