Participation in class action

Several GENMO members have asked us whether by participating in the class action against

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GMCL statement of Defence is now posted under class action submenu.

GMCL Statement of Defence

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Want to improve your life ?

WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF CANADIAN RETIREES? THEN,

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pension funding update

GENMO/GMCL pension committee meeting Nov 28, 2011

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New to GENMO ?

WHO ARE WE? Over 3000 GMCL salaried retirees and surviving spouses.

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GENMO FAQs

GENMO Organization Membership

Has GMCL recognized GENMO? Yes. Why do we need another GMCL salaried retirees organization? The General Motors of Canada Salaried Retirees Association based in Oshawa is recognized as a social organization. The financial difficulties experienced by GMCL and the adjustments to the pension and benefits of salaried retirees and surviving spouses demonstrated the need for a representative organization focused on protecting the pension and benefits of salaried retirees and surviving spouses. GENMO was established to be the official representative organization whose mandate is to protect the pension and benefits of all members of Pension Plan # 0304950. GMSRA and GENMO will work together. To be a member of both organizations requires paying dues to both organizations. Will GENMO be in existence on a permanent basis ? Yes. We have set up a capable organization with comprehensive by-laws and we have incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. We fully expect to remain strong and protect our retiress in perpetuity. Will the committee structure be on the website? Yes, GENMO Directors and their positions are shown on the "Our People" page. Does GENMO offer advice on taking buyouts? No. This is a personal decision. In the event that GM declares bankruptcy and our group benefits are discontinued, can GENMO look into getting a group rate for those interested? GENMO would certainly check with the provider and try to help if that is what our members wanted. Will you help me resolve a pension or benefits problem I am having? Unfortunately, we cannot help you with these matters. Specific questions should be referred to your pension and benefits representatives at GMCL. Who can be a member of GENMO? Any member of the General Motors of Canada Salaried Pension Plan, including retirees, surviving spouses, those receiving deferred pensions, dependent children of deceased retirees, and active employees can be a member. What if you live in another province? We want all those who are part of the General Motors of Canada Salaried Pension Plan to become GENMO members regardless of their Province of residence. We currently have members from across Canada, the United States and abroad. We are have had meetings in Oshawa, St. Catharines, Windsor, London, Peterborough, Moncton, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. If both a husband and wife are GM retirees do they have to register separately or can they register jointly and pay one fee? It is appropriate that each retiree become a member and pay the membership fee. Why would you try to protect anyone who is not prepared to become a member? We would do our best for everyone; however, it is better for the organization if everyone becomes a member as it will give us more credibility. There is strength in numbers. Also, there are some retirees and/or surviving spouses who may not be capable of making a choice. We cannot ignore them. Why does GENMO allow non-members to benefit from the results of the class action lawsuit, if Joe O'Neill wins ? GENMO has no choice in the matter. Canadian law ensures that all people that are eligible, are included in "the class", regardless of who is paying for the legal action. Why does GENMO not release the names of those who are GENMO members, and also the names of those retirees who are non-members ? GENMO has not received the names of all retirees who would be members of the class, as GMCL is currently not obliged to share that information with us, and has chosen no to do so. Consequently, we do not know with certainty who all the potential members of the class are. Privacy laws prevent us from publically sharing the names of those who are members of GENMO, and additionally it was promised that GENMO members names would be held in confidence, as some members may have a need to not be identified publically. ie active employees is one example How can we help to recruit new members? Please talk with all your fellow retirees and ask them to visit www.genmo.ca to complete the membership form and submit their payment. For those who do not have internet access, please, provide them with a membership form. You could also help by providing them with copies of updated information that is available to you on the web. We need to reach out to everyone, particularly surviving spouses who may not have heard of GENMO and who do not have access to the internet.

Membership Fees and Finances    Communications

How much are the membership fees? The Registration fee is $25 plus $50 per year. The increase in annual fees from last year is only temporary while we have high legal fees for our class action lawsuit. Once this is resolved the fees will be significantly reduced. What will the membership fees be used for? Membership Fees will be used for the ongoing expenses of the GENMO Organization. For example: primarily legal fees, but also website maintenance, office supplies, incorporation charges, insurance, and travel expenses. Accumulated funds will be placed in a reserve fund for on going and future expenses. Do the GENMO directors receive any remuneration for their time? No, GENMO Directors are all volunteers. Will the expenses be available for members to see? Yes, at each Annual General Meeting the financial statement will be available for review. Our financial statement will be professionally audited. Will you be providing tax receipts for the membership fees? GENMO is not a charitable organization; therefore, fees are not tax deductible. Receipts will be issued but only upon request. Is the money in an interest bearing account? The money will be placed in interest bearing accounts or ladder GIC's to ensure that it is secure and available. If you run up a bill, how do you propose paying for it? We have established a large membership base, and a large reserve fund. If that is not sufficient, we would have to ask the members for more money. How are you communicating with retirees? GENMO is communicating with retirees primarily by email. GENMO has held numerous meetings in various cities to address populations of GM retirees. Our website is available online and pertinent information will continue to be posted as it becomes available. E-mail is the most efficient and effective method of communication, however, from time to time, we will be sending letters by regular mail. GENMO must hold an Annual General Meeting as required by our by-law. Do you have sample letters which we could use to contact the government? Yes, letters are available at www.genmo.ca.

Pension Funding     Pension and Benefits

What is the existing funding level of our pension plan? On a solvency basis, the pension is estimated to be funded at 80 to 85%, based on current information. We will receive the Sept 1, 2010 Actuarial Valuation near the end of May 2011, and post the Executive Summary on our website, under the submenu "pension". This will have the latest specifics. Although 80 to 85% is a great improvement from Nov 2008 when it was funded at 58%, our work is not done until it will be sustained at 100%. This can only be done with improvements to the Ontario Provincial laws which regulate funding requirements for our pension plan. GENMO is an advocate calling for such changes. GENMO is a member of the Canadian Federation of Pensioners, which represents 150,000 retirees, and is working in collaboration with the CFP and all its particpating members which include retiree groups from: Nortel, Air Canada, Dupont, Sears, Stelco, Chrysler, Society of Energy Professionals, etc. The CFP website can be accessed with a link from our GENMO web site under the submenu "reference". What happens to our pension if the manufacturing operation leaves Oshawa? GM would still be a corporation in Canada so our pension plan would not be wound up. Now that the threat that GMCL may declare bankrupcy is past, why should I join GENMO ? We hope that GM continues to prosper, however the future is not guaranteed. Some of our promised benefits were reduced. GENMO continues the fight to ensure we keep the current benefits and to recover those that have been lost. Also, the Pension Fund while in better shape than it was in 2008, is not 100% funded. GENMO will continue to work with Federal and Provincial gevernments to amend laws to ensure pur pension is fully funded. What is GMCL doing to improve the funding level of our pensions ? GMCL is responsible for adding fixed amounts towards eventually reaching 100% funding. GENMO meets quarterly with the GMCL Pension Plan Administrator and Vice President-Finance to scrutinize progress towards that goal. Updates are provided immediatley after each meeting on the GENMO website under the submenu "pensions". What would happen to our pensions if GMCL was to go into bankrupcy ? If bankrupcy occurred, the underfunded portion would never be funded unless there were monies available after all other creditors were paid in full. In our opinion, it is highly unlikely that there would be anything left to support the pension shortfall. GENMO is an advocate for improving Federal bankrupcy laws which regulate where our pensions would stand with respect to creditors, such as banks and hedge funds. How would the supplemental portion of the pension be affected if the plan were wound up? It would be affected by the same factor as the primary pension. Who would decide how much we would receive if the pension plan were wound up? A judge, with input from actuaries, would make that decision. What happened to the money I put into Part B? It is all part of the plan and not separated. There are a number of active employees taking the commuted value of their pensions. Where does the money come from? The commuted value is taken from our (under-funded) pension plan. Although this does not seem fair, it is the law. We are proposing that the pension plan has to be highly funded before this could occur. Are the U.S. pension plans fully funded? No. A recent article indicated that they are underfunded by $12B, but that GMC is committed to fully funding them within the next few years. Note that this is approximately 1/2 of the world wide underfunding of GM pension plans. Is the Special Allowance part of the same plan? Yes. What would happen to our life insurance if GM failed? All benefits, including life insurance, would be affected if GMCL failed. These topics wopuld be resolved at Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCRA) hearings. GM would no longer be in charge. What is the significance of the date 1995 in regard to benefits? There was a court challenge regarding Dayco (Canada) Ltd. reducing pension benefits. In 1995 GM started indicating that pension benefits, in their opinion, were subject to change. Regarding “out of province” health insurance coverage, is a certain layover time required, before I can re-qualify for another 60 day period ? According to page 2 of the GMCL document “Employee- Questions and Answers regarding Salaried Benefit Plan Modifications (Announced December 2007)” there is no specific layover time, provided that some reasonable form of documentation is available to prove that you did return. Please rely on your own understanding of this document. Page 2 of this document is linked for your convenience. Does accepting $20,000 Sun Life Death Benefit impact rights of retirees ? If a GMCL pensioner passes away, will a surviving spouse be forfeiting any rights to funds that may result from a settlement from GM through the class action lawsuit, if they accept the $20,000 payment now ? SGM’s opinion is that if the surviving spouse does not sign a release in exchange for the life insurance payment then there should not be a problem accepting the $20,000 payment. Does GM have the right to arbitrarily change our pension and benefits? In our opinion, GM does not have the right to amend or adjust pensions or post retirement benefits. With respect to benefits, GENMO has retained the law firm of Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP to initiate a class action law suit against GMCL to recover benefits (including life insurance) unilaterally taken away from retirees by GMCL over the last several years. Detailed updates regarding the status of the law suit, are posted as they become available, on the GENMO web site under the submenu “class action”

Legal     Government Programs

If GM Canada went to CCAA, how long would it take for GENMO to get going and help? GENMO has been fully mobilized for some time now. If GM went to CCAA what would a judge have to know in order to recognize GENMO? He would have to know that we have incorporated as a not-for-profit organization to represent members of the salaried pension plan, that we have a substantial number of members, that we have by-laws, that we are fulfilling our mandate and that we have legal representation. How do we get Secured Creditor Status? Collectively we need to influence Federal politicians to change bankruptcy laws to improve the status of pensions when the associated company is in bankruptcy. What happened to Nortel retirees is a very unfortunate example of what could happen to us, should GMCL fail in the future. What are the liabilities for the members and directors? The directors have taken out the necessary Directors and Officers Insurance. There would be no risk for the members. What is the process to put this organization on the Secured Creditor List? Has this been done and if not, when? Currently our pension plan would only be an unsecured creditor. GENMO is an advocate promoting improvements in our Federal bankruptcy laws to improve that position . Bill C501 was an example of that effort. Does paying membership fees make me liable for legal fees and expenses incurred by the committee (i.e. Lawsuit successful/failed against GM)? No. Has GENMO hired lawyers yet? With respect to benefits, GENMO has retained the law firm of SGM to initiate a class action law suit against GMCL, so as to recover benefits (including life insurance) unilaterally taken away from retirees by GMCL over the last several years. Detailed updates regarding the status of the law suit, are posted as they become available, on the GENMO web site under the submenu “class action”. What is the status of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund? The Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund (PBGF) provides a guarantee for only the first $1,000 of a retirees pension and is self-funded by Ontario companies. It is currently under-funded by many millions but there is no obligation by the provincial government to top it up. There have been reports in the newspapers that failures by one or more large companies could bankrupt the fund. Further, as a condition of GMCL receiving funding in Sept 2009, our pension plan members are not eligible for PBGF benefits until our plan is fully funded for a specific period of time.