New and Noteworthy - TEAM IFPTE Local 161

TEAM MEMO
To:    TEAM-IFPTE Local 161 Members
From:   TEAM Office
Date: April 25, 2019
Re:      New and Noteworthy

Negotiations: An update on our contract negotiations with Bell will be provided shortly via a separate memo.

Financial and Pre-Retirement Planning Seminars: Further to our previous memos, we are now scheduling the dates of the TEAM Financial and Pre-Retirement Planning Seminars being held in Winnipeg (Brandon date TBD). The seminars will be facilitated by Darryl Robinson, an independent Financial Planner who has provided guidance to many TEAM members and employees of MTS over several decades.

These seminars are only open to TEAM members and, if applicable, their spouse/partner. Sessions will be held in TEAM’s Boardroom at 200 - 1 Wesley Avenue, Winnipeg, and will commence at 5:30 pm and run for around 3 hours. Pizza and refreshments will be provided.

If you wish to attend one of the sessions, please click here and let us know which of the below dates will work for you, the more options you provide the better, and we’ll let you know ASAP which session you will be able attend. Also advise if you will be accompanied by a spouse/partner.

Sessions with a focus on the Defined Benefit Pension Plan: May 14, 15, 28 and 29.
Sessions with a focus on the Defined Contribution Pension Plan: May 22, and June 10

If there is a particular area of financial planning, pensions, or retirement that you are interested in learning more about, and you haven’t already told us, let us know and we’ll do our best to have that topic covered. There will also be an opportunity for Q&A.

Banking of Vacation Days and Overtime: Next Tuesday, April 30^th, is your last chance in this vacation year to bank unused vacation and overtime. These banked days will be paid out on your departure from the company. The number of days you can bank each year, up to the maximum of 50 banked days, is specified in our Collective Agreement.

For members in the Defined Benefit pension plan, the banked days are pensionable i.e. pension contributions will be deducted from the banked vacation/overtime payout, and your pension will be higher than if you hadn’t banked any days. An approximation of the increase in pre-tax pension is +0.1% for each day banked, or 5% for the full 50 days. There are a number of variables that can influence the actual increase in pension an individual will receive, and the approximation provided here should only be considered as a guide. It is our understanding that Bell’s online DB Pension Forecast tool does not currently take into account your banked vacation/overtime days.

What’s all the fuss about 1919?: 2019 marks the 100^th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, an important piece of Canada’s history that took place in May and June of 1919. It’s difficult to imagine that on the same downtown streets many of us travel along today, many thousands of ordinary people took a stand for better pay and working conditions, and were faced down by “special police”, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police charging into the crowds and strikers, and military vehicles mounted with machine guns. A brief synopsis of the events can be read here, and a short 11 minute documentary watched here.

2019 Al and Alma Cerilli Scholarship: Applications are now being accepted for the 2019 Al and Alma Cerilli Manitoba Federation of Labour Scholarship; a $1,000 award to an MFL affiliated union member who is 35 years of age or younger and is enrolled in a continuing education or post-secondary education program. Members of TEAM-IFPTE Local 161 are eligible to apply. Click here for further details and the application form. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2019.

New and Noteworthy April 25th 2019