• Branch presidents from Creston, Kimberley, Cranbrook, Elk Valley, Kootenay West, and Boundary compared Branch activities including annual events, meetings and programs. Ours is very similar to other branches in these respects. Not all have a Policy & Procedures document.
• Pre-retirement seminars: Karen Barraclough, Kimberley, Bob Ferguson, John Chisamore. Creston are trained and available.
• Commission – Regina Day, Jannice Caufield, Bob Meredith, commission members. This topic resulted in a very productive discussion.
• 12 members looked through BCRTA Constitution and made recommendations.
• One concern is representation on the Board from around province – the interior and north are under-represented in the current format. Need to finance more directors from outside Lower Mainland.
• Problem with commission – should be funded for face-to-face meetings – to build collegiality. The members felt that virtual meetings are not an adequate substitute for real meetings, and that if the commission is worth doing it should be adequately funded. Mandate was not clear. Communication is an item of discussion but not central, Need an abstract of director's minutes.
• Should BCRTA be so wide ranging (re. projects/topics)?
• How were the decisions regarding advocacy training made, and should the members not have been consulted? ($12,000.00 spent).
• No appetite for further advocacy training at zone level.
• Zone recommends that BCRTA Pensions Committee look at a combined health plan with other retiree groups and that we go after the health care system administrative costs.
• Zone Director, K. Coates, was directed to bring the following issues up at the next Director's meeting:
  
  • Funding for commission & need for face to face meeting before Delegates Day (June 20)
  • Mandate of commission and the decision-making process
  • Regional representation & the need for more interior directors.
  • Review committee structure & mandates
  • Relations with BCTF at local and provincial level: Delegates to the BCTF AGM pensions session can be nominated by branches and do not have to be present at the BCRTA AGM provided they have agreed to stand
    
• Note from K. Coates: “A reminder to all branches that two delegates should be elected to go to the Delegate's day and AGM, and that neither Mary Hunter, director from Prince George, nor I are running again, leaving our area with no representation unless someone runs.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Good morning, EVRTA members,

The following message has been sent to the Presidents of the 5 other Branches in the Kootenay Zone. Please note that on advice from Keith Coates, and with permission from Mike Bruschetta (motion) and Len Kosiec(seconded), the motion was reworded to clarify our intent. Therefore, they will propose an amendment to their original motion to be voted on at our AGM/THWTB Breakfast Sept. 7th.

Hello (Branch President),

Members of the Elk Valley Retired Teachers' Branch have asked me to contact you with the request that when your Branch next meets, you add discussion of the following motion to your agenda:

" The EVRTA requests that the BCRTA amend policy on Inflation Adjustments by replacing the across the board percentage increase with a dollar amount per retiree, in order to correct the increasing inequity between lower and higher pensions:".

Although this is not a new argument, it is evident that, while retired teachers are generally characterized as "financially and medically secure", it is not true for everyone. There are retired teachers with small pensions and limited household incomes whose financial insecurity is exacerbated by the fact that the income gap widens as smaller pensions become relatively smaller and the larger ones become relatively larger with compounding inflation protection increases.

The following table shows the difference in incomes with a 3% inflation protection factor based on $20000, $30000, $40000 and $50000 pensions after 10, 20, and 30 years:

The retiree starting with $20,000 has an income of $48,574 after 30 years, whereas the retiree starting with $50,000 has an income of $121,363. While the difference in income at the time of retirement was $30,000, the difference after 30 years will be $72,789.

From the time teachers retire, we all have a basically fixed income and must contend with the same inflation-related prices for food, shelter, etc. Whereas the retiree beginning with a $50,000 pension has an additional $71,363 to deal with these costs after 30 years, the retiree whose pension began at $20,000 has to contend with these same costs with just $28,574. This hardly seems fair.

Please let us know if the members of your Branch support the motion, and if they recommend that we bring this motion to the floor of the BCRTA AGM this September.

For further information, please call or email me:

Jannice E. Caufield, President
Elk Valley Retired Teachers’ Association
Box 376, Fernie, B. C. V0B 1M0
250-423-6168