By now many of you will have read articles in the newspaper about the Class Action Suit that has been launched by the Society for Pension Reform. The suit lists the Government, the ATA, school boards across Alberta, and agencies whose employees belong to the Local Authorities’ Branches as the guilty parties. While many of the concerns raised by the Society are valid and need to be dealt with, we at ARTA are not convinced that confrontation is the best way to go.
We believe that there are avenues to be taken to bring about changes to the pension issues. To that end ARTA executive established a Standing Committee on Pensions whose responsibility is to work on the pension policies adopted at the 2003 Annual General Meeting and to try to bring about changes that will benefit our members. The Committee is to explore every possible direction in attempting to achieve its goals. Just recently its members asked me to approach Branch Presidents and ask them to form a sub-committee on pension issues in their areas. The Standing Committee is proposing to identify the issues to those branch members who are willing to serve on such committees and to enlist their support in bringing those issues to the attention of our members; the appropriate people in government; and the ATA, the people responsible for getting changes underway.
We suspect that a Class Action Suit may not bring about the expected results. It may, in fact, cause the government and the other agencies cited to become defensive and dig in their heels and not discuss any possible changes. Time and money are the factors that will play a big part in this issue.
Pension Reform and ARTA -- a report from the Executive Secretary
There have been numerous calls recently to the ARTA office regarding the information being circulated by the Society for Pension Reform. Some of these calls suggest that the Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association (ARTA) is not acting in the best interests of its members by not participating in the legal fight being undertaken by the Society. ARTA wishes to make known to its members what actions have been taken regarding pension reform.
The following are some pertinent facts and statements:
2001: ARTA asks its Representative Committee to study claims of pension deficiencies.
2002: The Representative Committee met with officials of the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF), the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) pension committee, consulted an actuary on pensions and met with members of the Alberta Society for Pension Reform. Publicity for the Society was provided in issues of ARTA’s News and Views.
2003: An extensive review of the history of the ATRF pension was conducted. Recommendations from the Representative Committee led to the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Pensions to do further studies and to summarize findings.
2004: The October 2004 Annual General Meeting of ARTA heard a report from the Ad Hoc Committee and then made this group a permanent standing committee of ARTA. The ATA allowed ARTA two members to attend the Annual Representative Assembly (ARA) in 2004 to speak on pension matters. This will be repeated at the May 2005 ARA.
ARTA believes it has performed “due diligence” regarding pension reform on behalf of its members.
Currently the Pension Committee is working on seeking improvements to our pensions in the areas of retired teacher representation, cost of living allowance (COLA) and bridge benefits. However, none of these issues will be solved instantly they will require constant work. There are no quick and easy solutions to these concerns and certainly not in a court case against the provincial government.
ARTA © 2005
