Wabush mine pension fight continues, says Labrador West MHA

Labrador West MHA, Graham Letto, says the fight continues for pensioners affected by the area'sdownturn, but work will also have to be done to diversity the economy.

It's been two years sinceWabushMines shut down andcommunities arestruggling.

"We have stepped up to the plate with Wabush as a government we're working very hard to find some resolutions to the issues that exist up there, especially around the pension plans, finding a new buyer forWabushMines," said Letto.

When the financially troubled mine, owned by Cliffs Natural Resources,closed in 2014, pension plans were underfundedby about $47 million dollars.

Letto said the big trouble came when a Quebec Superior court gave the company permission to stop paying into the plansuntil the end of bankruptcy proceedings for its troubled Canadian assets.

"Cliffs has an obligation to fund the pension plan, and they did through our pension regulations, which are some of the strongest in the country," he said.

"OnceCliffswent into bankruptcy protection through theCCWA[Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act]they were permitted to withdraw those payments."

Tough times

Pensioners have facedcuts of up to 25per cent andmore than900retirees have lost their medical coverage.

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"They knew whenWabushclosed their gates in 2014 that the pension wasunderfunded. It was16 months later before they went to lookfor protection," said Ellen, thewifeof aWabushpensionerwho called intoCBC'sOn The Go Thursday.

"Why hadn't thegovernmentstepped in then? But what happened in that 16 month period was that our pension lost even more."

Lettosaid the government continuesto fight forpensionersand sympathizedwith the caller, adding that many of his family and friends have been affected by the issue.

"It's very unfortunate that we findourselvesinthesesituations."

Lettosaid a change is needed in federal law that puts workers first, along withtheirpensions and benefits, andwork is being done across the country to makethose changes.

"There's a very big concerted effort right now across the country through the federalgovernmentto make changes to theCCWAso that pensioners and pension plans become apriority the fact is that we need this to be corrected today so that workers are protected in the future."

Sale of mine still on the table

A meeting set for Friday evening will "bring the pensioners up to speed" on what's happening with the legal battle.

Efforts are continuing with the potential sale of the mine, said Letto, withnegotiations continuing to get apurchase agreement finalized and have the assets moved to the new company.

"It's taking some time as a deal of this sort is quite a big job," he said.

"Hopefullythat we'll have a successful outcome before too long."

Need to diversify

Lettobelieves mining will be part of lifein Labrador for some time but the area needs to diversify.

"Each and every job today is important.We have to sell what we have. We have to build on our assets," he said.

"Labrador is known for it's cold, it'sclimate, it's cheap electricity, we have to find ways to put that into opportunities tomake it work for us."

Lettosaid more consideration needs to be given to things such astourism, and to businessopportunities such as data storage for companies that are looking to the north to reduce operating costs.

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"This downturn has certainly shown us that we cannotdepend solely on mining iron ore."