President’s Report

Wayne Hughes

In the last issue of KIT, we partnered with Johnson Insurance and Desjardin Financial, to send every RTAM member a couple of small mementos to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of RTAM. Unfortunately the description of the mementos was left out of my report. So after a couple of months of “mystery,” I am pleased to give an explanation of what and how to use them. The two items were 1) an eye glass cleaner cloth and 2) a RFID protector shield. While I’m sure everyone knows how to use a cleaning cloth for glasses, the RFID sleeve may be new. You might not know it, but your credit or debit card may have a tiny chip that transmits your account information. To provide better security from scanning devices, simply put your credit card in this sleeve and it will give you more protection from scammers.

May 27 and 28 saw a very successful Chapter Presidents’ Meeting and Annual General Meeting at the Viscount Hotel in Winnipeg. A number of people need to be thanked for their work in organizing this event. AGM Chair Barbara McDole, Elections chair Dolores Hebert, as well as our very dedicated office staff, Carol Gillis and Grace Reimer put in hundreds of hours making sure that all the details were looked after. A big thank you to them! I am glad, from a continuity point of view, the “election” saw the majority of Board members return for another year of service. At the same time, we will miss the dedication and commitment of our “retiring” directors, Rosalie Bornn, Vel McAdam and Norman Wiebe. We are also fortunate to welcome a new person, Frank Fiorentino, named to the Board.

With the two above omissions having been resolved, we can now move forward with what has happened over our all too short summer. Our office has been open throughout the summer on a variable schedule. Even when you are retired, summer holidays, family commitments and visits from friends and colleagues mean we have to be flexible. Carol and Grace

have done a great job in maintaining the things that have to be done and alerting committees of the items that need attention in upcoming meetings. Thank you, Carol and Grace.

Our members are doing an excellent job of promoting our Educational Award program. We were extremely pleased to receive 46 applications by the July 15 deadline. The Educational Advocacy Committee now has a big job to consider each application and decide on four final recipients. The winners will be announced in the December KIT.

RTAM members have begun to use the services of Carol as a Manitoba Commissioner of Oaths. We have decided to expand this service by having Grace apply as well. Both Grace and Carol are able to sign Manitoba affidavits and statutory declarations for RTAM members, at no cost.

While on the topic of services available through the office, RTAM members and Chapters are reminded our new office has a couple of areas available for meetings. If you need a place to meet, please contact Carol

or Grace to see if we can help you.

The summer has also had some sad and reflective moments with the passing of three former board members. Many RTAM members were aware of the passing of our Past President, Richard Benoit. We have also lost a longstanding member who served as our Treasurer and board member. Jag Malik passed away July 19 and a memorial service was held in Gilbert Plains. The third was Dolores Hebert on August 15. Dolores was very active with the Retired Women Teachers’ Association, as well as a former board member and most recently as the Elections Chair at our AGM. We have many fond memories of each of these members and are thankful for their contribution to retired teachers across Manitoba. Donations have been made in their memories.

September will see our Board resume their full activities. We are looking forward to receiving the first draft of our Volunteer Study. Thank you to the many members who responded to the survey. We are also making plans to reach out to active teachers across the Province by sending a copy of KIT to every Manitoba school. Our many standing committees will resume meetings and are planning many initiatives. Stay tuned for updates.

Thank you to Wilma Sotas for reminding us that October 5 is World Teachers’ Day which was founded in 1994 to celebrate the essential role of teachers in providing quality education to all levels. As Wilma said, teachers work so hard and need to be appreciated much more. We are glad to see there is a way of recognizing the contributions of teachers around the world.

In conclusion, I am honoured to serve as your President for the coming year and look forward to working with the new Board. Thank you for your continued support. n

ACER-CART/AGM June 5, 2014 Marvin Krawec

Ihave received queries regarding the acronym ACER-CART. ACER stands for “ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES ENSEIGNANTS ET DES ENSIGNANTS RETRAITES; CART stands for CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED TEACHERS.”

It is a very worthwhile organization in that it represents over 125,000 retired teachers on a federal level. That is very important.

Those who organized the ACER-CART AGM, ought to be acknowledged for the efficiency, discipline and organization of the meeting. The agenda moved along smoothly over the three days of sitting. Invaluable information was gained as to how others deal with common cause problems.

It is remarkable, that on a rather limited budget, the executive for its part, managed to meet its goal with success. This, in part, is due to the good relationship with the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. CTF allows ACER-CART to make use of its premises. Otherwise, with a rather limited budget, ACER-CART would really be struggling for its survival. It is because of a low revenue stream that ACER-CART is limited with its work across the country.

A proposal was put forth about exploring a special levy fund for special initiatives to ameliorate the dilemma.

The president, in his report, outlined the priorities that were set the previous year and were reinforced this AGM. Those being: • The enhancement of our political advocacy. The political Action

Committee of ACER-CART has

been charged with the responsibility of monitoring, organizing, developing and recommending to the executive, actions for remediation of issues that arise. • The urging of governments to negotiate a new enhanced Health

Accord • Supporting CTF’s Hear My Voice

Campaign • Establishing a cross country approach to protect defined benefit pension plans. It is apparent that pensions are under attack across the country; especially the Defined Benefit Pension

Thirteen associations from Yukon to Newfoundland were represented at the AGM. Manitoba is fifth in size with regard to membership. Judging from a summary of provincial reports, all agree that pensions are under attack. All agree that in recent past, there has been a lot of negative press regarding the Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Some find it difficult to combat the myths propounded by the media.

B.C. continues to lead in defending the Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Members do a lot of research and provide a lot of relevant data to dispel the myths that are accepted as fact. It is continuing its efforts to control the language associated with the pension topic.

Some provinces are experiencing solvency issues regarding their pensions. Nova Scotia, as an example went from 96% to 72% of solvency. Since 2006, there exist two indexing