Ontario’s paramedics and their unions have won a major victory in their fight for fair access to early retirement after decades of campaigning for pension equity.

OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for Ontario municipal employees, including paramedics, has finally changed its rules to allow paramedics to retire at age 60 without undue reductions in their benefits. hard-earned retirement.

“Our members have been fighting for this correction for years,” said Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. “Paramedics will now be able to negotiate access to what their fire and police counterparts already have: a standard retirement age of 60.”

Paramedics, like firefighters, firefighters, and police officers, work in a public safety profession recognized by federal law. This designation entitles them to early retirement options under federal tax rules, if their plan allows it. However, until this recent change, the OMERS rules provided for an unjustified reduction in pension benefits for some members who wanted or had to retire early.

“The work of a paramedic takes a heavy toll on their physical and mental health,” says OPSEU President JP Hornick. “For these people, early retirement is often a matter of security and equity. This change shouldn’t have lasted so long, but now that it’s here, paramedics and their unions can move forward and benefit. »

Before paramedics can benefit from the new OMERS early retirement provisions, they must negotiate this change through local negotiations with their employers. CUPE and OPSEU will serve paramedics interested in this change.

For many years, paramedics and their unions have fought this injustice. They took their concerns to OMERS and tried to work with the pension fund to find a solution. In 2021, CUPE and OPSEU launched a series of legal challenges, opposing OMERS’ unfair treatment of paramedics seeking early retirement.

A few days before the date of the next court hearing, OMERS CUPE and OPSEU informed that it will change the formula that penalizes certain paramedics when taking early retirement.

MM. Both Hornick and Hahn see this as another sign of positive change at OMERS.

“Our unions’ experience of OMERS Sponsors Corporation has taken a positive turn under his new administration,” said Fred Hahn. We hope this new change is proof that better relationships between plan members, sponsors and OMERS are bearing fruit. However, we remain deeply concerned about the ongoing risk assessment of the scheme and will continue our general campaign against any cuts to our members’ pension benefits. »

CUPE and OPSEU together represent more than 7,000 paramedics across the province.