President's Report

By richard Benoit

Fall is soon to be upon us and with the season, the orange, brown and crimson colours of the leaves blend with each other to create a spectacular fall collage. The idle days of summer give way to a new year with its opportunities and challenges. As retired teachers, we remember the excitement of preparing for that first day, anticipating a new year probably with students we had not met before, students under our care and responsibility to guide and challenge for two hundred days. This new school year will add another in the preparation of their important journey through life. We are somewhat filled with envy to not be amongst the ranks of teachers of 2011-2012. We also experience happy memories, memories of how we contributed in moulding a better adult life for hundreds, possibly thousands of future citizens of our province, country and world.

While teaching, we consistently emphasized the importance of hard work, of diligence, of the necessity of giving of one’s self fully to a task so as to succeed, enjoy a productive life, value and live important essential aspects of a career and therefore a life worth living. We repeatedly emphasized the concepts of respect for others, justice and fairness which are essential to improving one’s plight for the future and for building a world where democracy thrives, where everyone has a chance to appreciate and enjoy what is rightfully his or hers in life. We often started our instructions with “Play fairly,” “Be fair to each other” and “Do not forget to give everyone a fair and equal chance.”

The fall of 2011 is a most important one for all Manitobans including teachers, employers, employees and retirees in all spheres of life. Manitobans head to the polls on October 4, 2011, to elect the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) for the next four years. Manitobans are basically putting the future four years in the hands of fifty-seven people, the majority of whom will form the government during these years. Elections in a democracy cannot be ignored, classified as useless and a waste of money. Rather, these elections provide all citizens the opportunity to inform the future legislators, to verify what basic policies they will seek to implement. RTAM will also attempt to shed light on certain facts, concepts and values which should guide the orientation to be taken when new legislation is debated and passed. Many lobbyists, interest and pressure groups go into full gear at this time so as to impact the future laws of the province.

Some people produce lame and rather weak arguments as to why their involvement and participation are useless and will bear no fruit. Others claim that they are not knowledgeable enough about issues and politics to get on board and involved in the election process. Others believe that colleagues can carry the ball for them while they simply wash their hands of the entire process. Others truly think that they do not have the personality or attributes necessary to participate in an enlightened manner and so it is best that they remain silent, ready to endure whatever the results will be in the coming election. Others are convinced that whatever they do will carry no impact on the final outcome. Finally, some elder citizens carry the opinion that people in their age category really have no place in helping to shape the constitution of the members of the halls of provincial power.

For one reason or another some retired teachers associate themselves with one or some of the above groups and therefore abdicate their duties and responsibilities to others because they feel they no longer count.

As members of RTAM, let us return to the past and our duties in the classrooms and schools of the province. As they are today, the retired teachers of our days were never afraid to face the important challenges of respect for others, of fundamental justice and fairness. We could not back down in front of inculcating such values because we carried these children in the bosom of our hearts. We were firmly determined to help build a better world.

Are we proud of ourselves and the past? I would hope so for we are the ones who helped shape the future of our province.

Do we regret having emphasized repeatedly the importance of fairness, of justice for all? I know that we feel good about having taught and insisted

for the year 2010-2011

on these concepts for twenty, thirty, forty years and more, for we helped strengthen our democratic process.

Did we believe that informing, educating students about democratic values was a waste of time in view of the world circumstances at the time? On the contrary we felt obliged to share the truth and to ensure that our graduates would constitute citizens who would forever challenge a system that did not seem to uphold such fundamental values.

Colleagues, while the 2011 election will debate many important policies that will shape our province for the coming years, we cannot let this election occur without assuring that our COLA is one of the important issues that must be discussed and held high with the other pressing issues.

Approximately 16% of our pension contributions were allotted to a fund which would ensure a fair Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) when we reached retirement. We are far from receiving this fair COLA at present and the value of our pension dollars continues to decrease at an alarming rate. Yet this issue is not being addressed by our legislators.

We are often compared to the retired civil servants of our province and so are our pensions. However, in comparing, we discover how flagrantly unfairly and unjustly we are being treated in comparison to this group. One year after the Government passed Bill 45 giving retired teachers a raw deal regarding COLA, the same Government passed Bill 8 transferring $145,000,000.00 from a surplus account in the Civil Service fund to support COLA for civil servants. Where is the fairness?? Where is the justice??? What are the values that we hold and educated our students to adopt and respect? During this same period, nurses were able to negotiate a provision for COLA in their collective agreement, such COLA going into effect in 2018. While there may be some differences in the negotiating methods of all three parties (retired teachers, civil servants and health care workers) all three groups basically share the same pension concepts (equal pension contributions from the provincial government and the employees).

This edition of KIT provides four pages focusing on the October 4, 2011, provincial election. These pages attempt to inform members of the important principles and positions that are at play regarding COLA. This information is for you. We hope that this information will assist you when you meet candidates at your door, at open forum and town hall meetings. We also implore you to make an effort to meet all candidates as chapters, groups and individuals to inform them of the issues at stake, so that they can comprehend the unfairness and injustice faced by retired teachers. Hopefully the contributions of our 8,000 members will help inform and convince the members of the future government that COLA for retired teachers is a thorn, a serious problem and injustice for all of us and that it must be addressed fairly and squarely by the next government. RTAM also sent a letter to all party leaders regarding COLA facts and concerns. Following my message is a copy of this letter. It indicates clearly the enormous task ahead of us before the October 4, 2011, election.

Only justice and long term funding can rectify the situation. Elections occur only every four years. Can we afford to hide in our cocoon and let this one pass by or do we act and act firmly? Only every member individually can answer this question.

The Board is convinced that you all want a resolution of the problem and will choose to act.

Thank you in advance for your efforts and work which are deemed essential.

On the next page, see RTAM's letter to the Premier informing him of a motion concerning our COLA passed at our 2011 Annual General Meeting. A similar letter was sent to the leaders of the Opposition parties, Mr. Hugh McFadyen and Dr. Jon Gerrard. These letters were copied to MLAs in each party.