12 million Canadian workers are not covered by a workplace pension plan. The maximum retirement benefit under the Canada Pension plan is around $1,100 per month, while the average benefit under CPP is $550 per month.

Only 15 to 20% of middle income Canadians retiring without an employer pension plan have saved enough for retirement. For single persons aged over 65 without pension income, the median income is just $20,000 per year.

The current model of retirement saving in Canada is broken. As employers increasingly do not provide company pensions, the RRSPs and TFSAs that were supposed to be the answer have been woeful failures in providing a vehicle by which working Canadians can retire with dignity.

Employers have been let off the hook on paying retirement benefits, banks have been enriched by user fees, and working Canadians are increasingly retiring in poverty. This broken unfair system must change.

In advance of the approaching meeting of Canadian Federal and Provincial Finance Ministers, the Confederation of Canadian Unions calls for the mandatory doubling of Canada Pension Plan premiums for both workers and employers across the board. We as Canadians owe it to each other to force our governments to change the system so that it provides fair and dignified retirement benefits for all working Canadians. It is time for employers to stop whining and pay their fair share.