Sears’ CEO Eddy Lampert won a major salvage, affording him a new yacht, while working-class pensioners suffered painful losses. This was made possible in part by policies Justin Trudeau’s government supported.
Lampert’s yacht costs an exorbitant $100 million. A callous example of big businesses capturing the lion’s share of profits by exploiting their workforce.
According to Tom Parkin from CanadaGameChangers.ca, in the few years before Sears went bankrupt, the company’s board authorized $2.9 billion in special dividends to be paid to shareholders including their CEO, Chair of the Board, and biggest investor Eddy Lampert.
This happened as the company was running a loss of $188 million; its pension fund was underfunded by $133 million, according to court filings.
By bankrupting the company, Lampert legally defaulted various debts, including the pensions of their employees. All this despite receiving a bailout of nearly $3 billion.
18,000 workers’ pensions had a retiree health benefit plan short of a whopping $421 million.
As Sears employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against Lampert, there is a general lack of care from the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau hasn’t made any noticeable effort to bring justice for these Sears workers. He hasn’t even ensured that no other Canadians have their pensions robbed from them in the future.
Under federal bankruptcy laws, there are secured and unsecured creditors.
A court-appointed trustee first pays out the remaining company funds to the company’s secured creditors. Governments, banks and other financial institutions are included in this definition.
And here’s how Trudeau cheated the working class. He made no effort in adding workers as secured creditors.
He could have passed legislation to ensure that workers are prioritized and that shareholders aren’t given dividends if pensions are woefully unfunded. In 2017, such a bill was introduced in the US Senate. Trudeau did not even attempt to do that here in Canada.
Canadians deserve better. The working class is being robbed of its right to existence. Taxes are at an all-time high, social services are underfunded, and now workers are literally paying for their boss’ unnecessary extravagant expenses.
As the economy reaches a recession with growth at 0.1%, inflation reaches levels of 2.4%, and the loonie keeps dropping its values in response to trade wars and weak Canadian exports, Canada seeks a change.
The working class knows that Trudeau is a Prime Minister for the 1%. How can one forget SNC-Lavalin, GM and Bombardier?
The working class will remember the date. October 22nd, 2019.
They will remember everything.
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