ACER-CART Pensions

JoAnne Hoyak, RTAM Vice President / ACER-CART Director

Dear Members, Our teacher pension plans are under review in some areas. It seems to be a cyclical situation. Our members are often not able to explain the benefits of our Defined Benefit plans.

On the other hand, members and politicians are unaware of the differences between Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution and Target Benefit Plans. There is a potential impact on retirees and the overall community if any DB plan is attacked in any part of the country.

The document “Better Bang for the Buck” points out the advantage of Defined Benefit Plans and may be useful to you if you need to defend your pension arrangements. We encourage you to share this document or use the ideas it puts forward to enlighten people who attack our plans.

Martin Higgs

ACER-CART Chair Pension and Retirement Security Committee

To read the document “Better Bang for the Buck” which points out the advantage of Defined Benefit Plans, go to this link https://rtam.mb.ca/site-content/591-the-advantage-of-defined-benefit-plans. n

President's Message . . . continued from previous page

Press advertisement, the RTAM Executive has hired Pinnacle, a professional head-hunter firm to help find a suitable new Executive Director on or before April 1, 2022.

At its last meeting the Board resolved the long outstanding issue of finalizing our Employee Benefits package. The Board’s unanimous decision provides a 50% cost sharing of Johnson’s single Extended Health and Dental Plan coverage as well as an annual contribution to employee self-directed retirement investments.

JoAnne and I met with MTS President, James Bedford and Vice President, Nathan Martindale for our regular bimonthly RTAM/MTS Liaison meeting on January 21, 2022. Unfortunately, the MTS Provincial Executive was not prepared, at this time, to recognize RTAM as the official voice of all retired teachers in Manitoba. RTAM was encouraged to resubmit the proposal with a letter of understanding formalizing the relations between our two organizations. MTS generously donated the Owl technology to facilitate hybrid meetings of the RTAM Board, the Chapter Presidents and committee meetings. On January 22, 2022, RTAM hosted a virtual meeting for retired substitute teachers to voice working condition concerns to President Bedford for future Provincial Bargaining. n

Photo by Edmond LaBossiere RTAM Photo Contest Entry