Listen up, you hardworking bastards out there – the firefighters, the rubbish collectors, the everyday grinders keeping Ontario’s towns ticking. You’ve been slogging away, trusting that your pension pot with OMERS – that’s the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System for the uninitiated – is being handled by sharp-suited guardians who give a damn about your future. But pull back the curtain, and what do you find? A bloated beast of an organisation, bloated on billions, that’s been knee-deep in scandals so filthy they’d make a sewer rat blush. We’re talking environmental catastrophes, dodgy deals, and lawsuits that scream betrayal. And just when you think it can’t get grittier, turns out they’ve got their claws into Cummins Inc., that diesel-spewing giant with its own rap sheet of emissions cheating. Yeah, OMERS owns 9,855 shares in Cummins, valued at around £2.4 million (that’s about $3.1 million CAD, give or take the exchange rate fluctuations). It’s yet another company in the Cummins ecosystem peddling alternative ideas on ethical behaviour – think defeat devices that bypass emissions tests, pumping out pollution while raking in profits. OMERS, with its fiduciary duty bullshit, is happily betting your retirement on firms that treat the planet like a personal ashtray.

I’ve , shovelled through the shit, and OMERS Administration Corp – the arm managing this £100 billion-plus fund – emerges as a masterclass in how to screw over the little guy while preaching sustainability and responsibility. Grab a coffee, settle in, because this exposé is going to leave you furious, informed, and questioning every pension statement you get.

The Thames Water Fiasco: Drowning in Sewage and Greed

Picture this: You’re in London, strolling by the Thames, expecting a postcard view. Instead, you’re hit with the stench of raw sewage bubbling up because the pipes are shot to hell. That’s the legacy of Thames Water, the UK’s biggest water utility, and OMERS has been right in the thick of it. They snapped up a hefty stake – about 31.7% through their infrastructure arm – back in the day, turning what should be a public service into a cash cow for distant investors.

But here’s the gritty truth: Thames Water has been accused of chronic underinvestment, letting infrastructure rot while siphoning off billions in dividends to shareholders like OMERS. Result? Record sewage spills into rivers, fines from regulators, and a debt mountain over £15 billion that’s pushed the company to the brink of collapse. In May 2024, OMERS wrote off their entire stake – over £800 million gone, poof – admitting it was worthless. That’s your pension money, folks, flushed down the toilet to fund a polluting monster. Environmental groups are howling about the health risks, the dead fish, the contaminated waterways. And OMERS? They call it a “fiduciary decision,” like that’s supposed to wash away the stink. Bollocks. This is corporate negligence on steroids, prioritising payouts over pipes, and it’s left millions wondering if their tap water is safe.

Executive Excess: The Tim Patterson Saga and the Bonus Bonfire

Shift scenes to the boardrooms, where the air’s thick with entitlement. Enter Tim Patterson, former bigwig at OMERS Private Equity. In 2021, he slapped them with a £50 million lawsuit – that’s $65 million CAD – claiming wrongful dismissal after he balked at changes to the incentive plan. He says it slashed pay, sparked an exodus of talent (eight quits, two firings), and was straight-up retaliation for his stellar performance in health-care deals.

OMERS fired back, calling it “baseless,” a greedy grab at more bonuses from pensioners’ pockets. But peel it back: This exposes the rot in how these funds operate. Executives pulling in eye-watering salaries while the fund underperforms? It’s a slap in the face to the municipal workers funding it all. Patterson’s case shone a light on the opaque world of pension compensation – where the top dogs feast, and the rank-and-file get scraps. Outraged? You should be. This isn’t just infighting; it’s a symptom of a system rigged for the elite, leaving your retirement hanging by a thread.

Union Wars: CUPE’s Battle Against the Pension Pirates

Now, let’s talk unions, because nothing gets the blood boiling like workers fighting back. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – representing thousands of OMERS members – has been at war with them for years. Back in 2005, CUPE lobbed a £46 million lawsuit alleging fund mismanagement and breaches of duty. Fast-forward to 2021, and they’re at it again, challenging early retirement tweaks and slamming investment flops that lagged behind peers.

By 2025, at OMERS’ annual meeting, members were venting spleen over oil and gas bets amid climate chaos. CUPE’s reports highlight “failed investments” costing dearly, demanding reviews and accountability. It’s raw class warfare: Union folks saying, “Hey, that’s our money you’re gambling with,” while OMERS hides behind legalese. For the everyday reader, think of it like this – supply chains are the arteries of global trade, moving goods from factory to shelf, but here OMERS is the blockage, choking value through bad bets. No dumbing down: These disputes aren’t abstract; they hit your benefits, your security. Bloody outrageous that a pension fund meant to protect workers ends up battling them in court.

Hudson Yards: Gaming the System for Luxury Loot

Hop across the pond to New York, where OMERS’ real estate arm, Oxford Properties, cashed in on Hudson Yards – that gleaming mega-development of skyscrapers and shops for the uber-rich. Sounds posh? Dig deeper: It tapped the EB-5 visa programme, meant for immigrant investors pumping cash into struggling areas to create jobs. But critics cry foul, accusing developers (and by extension, backers like OMERS) of gerrymandering maps to qualify ritzy zones, diverting funds from truly needy spots.

In 2019, this blew up as a scandal of ethical sleight-of-hand – exploiting a scheme for the disadvantaged to build billionaire playgrounds. OMERS stood to profit big, but at what cost? It’s the gritty underbelly of global finance: Pension funds like yours chasing yields in deals that smell of inequality. For those new to this, supply chains here mean the flow of capital from your contributions to these projects, often opaque and far from ethical. OMERS’ involvement? Just another notch in their belt of questionable plays.

Governance Gone Wrong: Political Puppets and Infrastructure Insanity

Don’t get me started on governance – the backbone of any organisation, or in OMERS’ case, the spineless jelly. Ontario’s government has meddled, proposing board changes that reek of political cronyism, installing loyalists while unions scream interference. A 2024 review was slapped on amid the uproar, but trust? Shattered.

Then there’s the scrapped deals, like ditching a stake in Spanish fuel firm Exolum in 2022 amid oil slumps, or broader overseas blunders. Tie in their Cummins stake: That engine maker got hammered with a £1.3 billion fine in 2024 for installing defeat devices on 600,000 Ram trucks, cheating emissions tests and belching out toxins. OMERS’ 9,855 shares? A drop in their ocean, but symbolic – investing in a firm fined for environmental fraud while touting green credentials. It’s hypocrisy on a industrial scale, part of a ecosystem where ethics are optional if profits roll in.

Add lawsuits from ex-police over bungled pension transfers and Toronto Hydro over contribution caps – millions in claims painting OMERS as operationally inept. This isn’t just bad luck; it’s a pattern of arrogance, where your hard-earned quid gets risked on shaky ground.

The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters to You

So, what’s the takeaway from this cesspool? OMERS Administration Corp, managing one of Canada’s mega-pensions, has racked up scandals that erode trust faster than Thames Water leaks sewage. From billion-pound write-offs to courtroom brawls, it’s a gritty tale of fiduciary failure. And that Cummins holding? Just underscores their taste for companies with “alternative” ethics – Cummins’ scandal involved dodging clean air rules, harming communities already choking on pollution.

For the average punter: Your pension isn’t some magic pot; it’s invested in real-world assets, from water pipes to diesel engines. When OMERS cocks it up, you pay – higher contributions, shittier benefits. Outraged? Good. Demand transparency, push your unions, question the suits. Because if we don’t, these pension predators will keep feasting while we scrape by.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Shareholder Spotlight : Unmasking OMERS: The Pension Predators Draining Rivers, Pockets, and Trust