The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) marked its second annual "unfair Labour Day" by urging the feds to close the large gap between government workers’ pension benefits and everyone else.

It says this can be achieved by freezing and converting its "unsustainable defined benefit pension plans to less costly, defined contribution plans."

“Not only are government employees more likely to have workplace pensions, they typically have the ‘golden’ type – defined benefit plans,” CTF federal director Gregory Thomas said in a statement issued Monday. “Considering most defined-benefit pension plans in the country are running a deficit, it’s time for the government to follow the private sector and get out of them.”

According to the CTF, the average government employee saw $8,734 go into their pension plan last year while everyone else saw an average of just $4,092 go into their pension plan or RRSP.

“Government employees have twice as much money going into their pensions than people in the private sector, and yet, there are still massive shortfalls in their pension plans. What’s worse is that those in the private sector, who have a fraction of the pension savings, are being forced by their governments to backstop these rich government pension plans,” Thomas said. “After scaling back their own plans, politicians across the country need to begin the work of fixing government workers’ plans.”