For John Tyson, a 36-year employee who retired as vice-president of advanced technology strategic planning, the battle is not just about saving his friends from downsizing apartments and downgrading their retirement plans in the wake of the former international telecom giant's bankruptcy in 2009.
"What Silver Fox Alliance is really trying to do is extend the political base beyond the pensioners, and appeal to all private pensioners for support because it could be them," Mr. Tyson says.
"That, to me, is the principal thrust. Truth be known, to many of these people things are getting desperate. If and when they are faced with final judgment and they lose more than 36 per cent of their pension and all their health and life insurance benefits, it will take these people over the line."
The death knell for Nortel pensioners, Mr. Tyson says, came on May 26. Federal bill C-501 proposed to change the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, as well as the Company's Creditors Arrangement Act, to make employees preferred creditors in the event of a company's bankruptcy.
The bill was on its second reading and had mustered support from some Conservative MPs, but not all of them. It is still being looked at by a committee.
Silver Fox Alliance, working in concert with the Nortel Retirees and former employees Protection Canada (NRPC), is asking the federal government to change its mind.
Through an online petition, Mr. Tyson says he is hoping to gather 25,000 signatures to present to the federal government. However, his efforts have only garnered 300 names in about two weeks.
"They are resigned to their fate," Mr. Tyson says of the people he was able to reach, and who turned down the opportunity to add their signature.
"The last time a Nortel pensioner worked a formal petition, they got 17,000 signatures, if i remember correctly, and had it presented in the federal House ... to no avail because it was completely ignored.
"When they presented the pension and they put out a media release, there was no column inches (in newspapers) devoted to it. Something else is required -- the court of public opinion and leverage."
Mr. Tyson is also working to garner attention at the provincial level. Along with NRPC, he is busy booking buses and confirming attendence for a Queen's Park rally on Sept. 15.
The protest is being held just two weeks ahead of Sept. 30, when Nortel's defined-benefit pension plans get acquired by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.
According to NRPC, the existing pension will be converted to annuities at a time when interest rates are very low, hurting the incomes of Nortel pensioners.
For Mr. Tyson, seeing any action at this late date is a longshot, but he says he is prepared to fight.
"If all you have is faint hope, just keep going, and hopefully something out there will be the magic thing."
