Employers in many countries around the world are using the collapsing stock market as a pretext to water-down or eliminate pension benefits for their workers – and there is every reason to believe that the trend may soon spread to Canada.

In Britain, for example, unions are locked in a struggle to save their members’ Defined Benefit (DB) pension plans.

The plans, which the British call "Final Salary" pensions, have come under attack from employers who say they can’t afford to cover the large unfunded liabilities that have developed as a result of falling stock prices.

In response to the attack on retirement benefits, the Trades Union Congress (Britain’s largest labour central) recently placed the pension fight at the top of its agenda.

At a press conference held in September, TUC General Secretary John Monks said the attack on DB pensions represented the worst threat to the income of working people since the end of the Second World War.

"For more than fifty years we have believed in progress – that living standards would rise… But many people at work today will be poorer when they retire than today’s pensioners."

Some non-union employers in Britain have unilaterally converted their DB plans to Defined Contribution (DC) pensions, in which employees bear almost all the financial risk. Others have "grandfathered" current employees into existing DB plans, but will offer new hires only a less expensive DC option.

Such "conversions" tend to be relatively easy in non-union workplaces. Without guidance from experienced union pension experts, many employees are baffled by the complex jargon surrounding pension issues. And even those who understand and oppose the conversion have no power to fight their employer.

However, British workers in unionized firms have been much more successful in defending their benefits and stopping employers from walking away from their current pension obligations.

For example, when the insurance company Scottish Widows tried to abandon its DB pension, the workers, members of the trade union Amicus, threatened strike action, and forced the company to back down.

Members of the metalworkers union ISTC actually took strike action at three plants owned by the steel manufacturer Caparo in a successful bid to defend their DB pension.

Labour observers and pension experts agree that similar showdowns are likely here in North America.

"Right now, millions of Canadians in both the public and private sectors are covered by Defined Benefit pension plans," says AFL president Les Steel. "It looks like we’re going to have a serious fight on our hands to protect retirement benefits for those workers – and for future generations of workers."