Nothing. The employer makes all the contributions to the plan.

No. Under the terms of the plan as registered under the Income Tax Act, only the employer can contribute pursuant to a collective agreement. You may be able to contribute additional amounts to your personal RRSP, outside the plan.

Each participating employer contributes the going rate as set out in the collective agreement for each hour worked by all bargaining unit employees who are members of the plan.

None. Employer contributions will not be added to your wages and they are not taxable. Your benefits will be subject to Income Tax when they are paid out of the plan. Each year, the employer contributions made in respect of the hours you work will be reported on your T4; it is called a Pension Adjustment (PA). This PA will be used to calculate any amounts you can put into your personal RRSP outside the plan, for the next year.

Your full pension is payable from age 65. You can retire as early as age 55, but your pension will be reduced. Under certain conditions, you can retire as early as age 60, without any reduction in your pension. Under certain additional conditions, a temporary bridge pension may also become payable, up to age 65. The retirement conditions are as follows:

A) Normal Retirement: this is the 1st day of the month following your 65th birthday. Your full pension is payable on retirement on or after this date, without any reduction. If you are working under your collective agreement past age 65, your pension will be postponed until you actually retire, but you will continue to earn pension credits until you actually retire. However, under the Income Tax rules you must start your pension by the end of the year you reach age 71 (even if you keep working).

B) Regular Early Retirement: this is the 1st day of any month after age 55 and before age 65, provided you have at least 2 years of vesting service. (Each calendar year that you work 350 or more hours counts as 1 year of vesting service.) Your pension is reduced on an actuarially equivalent basis to the normal pension payable from age 65; the reduction is to allow for the pension starting earlier and, therefore, being payable for a longer period.

C) Special Early Retirement: if you are at least age 55you have 25 or more years of “contributory” service and you have at least 2,000 hours credited after age 54 then you can retire at or after age 60 with no reduction in your pension. If you retire before age 60 then your pension is reduced. “Contributory” service is defined as 2,000 hours per year before 1994, plus vesting years (i.e. at least 350 hours per year) after 1993.

D) Bridge Pension: if you qualify for Special Early Retirement (under C above), are at least age 58, have 25 or more years of “contributory” service and have at least 2,000 hours credited after age 56. Then you will also get a temporary bridge pension, payable until you reach age 65. The bridge pension is payable without reduction on retirement at or after age 60; it is reduced on retirement between ages 58 and 60.

Retirement usually occurs on the first day of the month following the date that you stop working. For example, if you stop working at any time in July, your pension will start on August 1.

Your pension will be determined and calculated on the plan rules and provisions in effect during your years of pension membership. How much you receive will depend on:

How many years of credited service you have;

The benefit rates that apply to your service;

How old you are when you retire;

What option you choose (See Question number 14); How old your spouse is (affects the spousal options).

There are two parts to the pension, a lifetime pension and a temporary bridge pension to age 65. The following pension amounts are based on the provisions in effect at January 1, 2010 and apply only to members who are active after that date.

For plan years after 2009, the monthly pension is initially equal to 1 % of contributions made in respect of the member; this change was made to accommodate different contribution rates for different employers.

The following table shows examples of the new pension credits, on a variety of contribution rates, for a member working 2,000 credited hours in a year:

Monthly Pension Contribution Rate (2,000 hours worked) (=1. % x Contributions) $1.00 $2,000 $ 20.00 $1.50 $3,000 $ 30.00 $2.00 $4,000 $ 40.00 $2.50 $5,000 $ 50.00 $3.50 $7,000 $ 70.00Example Year Hourly Contributions Initial Contributions x 2000 hrs. Pension @1.0% Year1 1.00 $2000. $20.00 Year2 1.20 $2400. $24.00 Year3 1.40 $2800. $28.00 Year4 1.60 $3200. $32.00 Year5 1.80 $3600. $36.00

Monthly pension $ 140.00

The above was just an illustration to show you how the pension is calculated. The most recent calendar year is shown on your annual plan statement. You can add to this, an estimate of the pension credits you expect to earn in future years, to get your total estimated pension.

The normal form of pension payments is a pension payable for your lifetime, subject to a guarantee that at least 60 monthly payments will be made

If you should decease before receiving 60 pension payments, your beneficiary will continue to receive the monthly pension payments for the balance of the 60 months. However, if you are married or party to a common-law relationship at the date of your retirement, British Columbia pension laws require that the pension be paid in a form which continues to your spouse after your death, for the rest of her life, in an amount not less than 60% of the pension you were receiving. Your initial pension will be reduced on an actuarial basis to reflect this requirement. Your spouse may waive their rights to this entitlement by completing a prescribed form, in which case you may receive the pension in the normal form or in another optional form.

The pension plan requires a declaration if you do not have a spouse.

As mentioned above, if you have a spouse at retirement, your choice of an optional form of pension will be restricted, unless your spouse completes a waiver in the form prescribed by the government authorities. Subject to these restrictions, you may choose any one of the following optional types of pension in lieu of the normal form:

An increased pension payable for your lifetime only. No payments are made to anyone else after your death.

A reduced pension payable for your lifetime, but with a guarantee that 120, or 180, monthly payments will be made in the event of your prior death.

A reduced pension payable for your lifetime and, in the event of your death, a pension payable to your spouse for his/her lifetime. The amount will be either equal to the pension you receive or to 60% of the pension you receive.

The bridge pension can only be paid to the member.

At least 2 months before you intend to retire, you should contact the Pension Plan office to discuss the various pension options and the timetable for completing your application and exercising your options. At that time you will require adequate proof of your date of birth (birth certificate, Canadian citizenship or passport) and your spouse’s date of birth. Your pension does not begin automatically, you must apply for it.

Pension credits earned under the plan may be increased from time to time, subject to the financial resources available to the Trustees.