The President's Message
By Larry Liffiton, Local #38 President
Pension Unfunded Liability and Provincial Bargaining
Last week our Council of School Representatives passed a motion urging Provincial Executive Council to develop a framework around which to begin discussions with the government aimed at resolving the pension unfunded liability issue. The motion also calls for consideration of the government's stated interest in achieving long term “labour peace” in developing the framework. Finally, the motion calls for the framework to be brought to the Local Presidents meeting in Edmonton in February for feedback from all the Locals.
The intention of the motion is to inform Provincial Executive Council that teachers want the ATA to be prepared to initiate discussions with the government on the issue of the pension unfunded liability. Both sides have indicated they see the issue as a problem that requires resolution but neither side seems willing to open dialogue “at this time.” We would like to see Provincial Executive Council at least prepare for discussions if not actually request them.
The idea for the motion arose out of a meeting with the presidents of the four urban Locals in Red Deer at the end of November. At that meeting Mark Ramsankar of Edmonton Public indicated that his CSR would be debating a motion asking the Edmonton City District Representatives to request Provincial Executive Council to formulate a framework from which to approach the government to begin discussions aimed at resolving the problem. Calgary Separate also debated and passed a resolution asking Calgary City DRs to do the same thing.
As it turned out the Edmonton motion was debated but withdrawn when the Edmonton City DRs indicated they would raise the issue at the Provincial Executive Council meeting December 1st and 2nd. The issue was raised at that meeting with a motion being passed that would see PEC call an emergent Local Presidents meeting to develop a framework for discussions with the government, but only after the government approached the ATA first with the offer to open dialogue. Our motion asks PEC to take the initiative in developing that framework in preparation for initiating discussions.
All of this follows a month that saw the pension unfunded liability receive a great deal of attention. Immediately after last month's meeting of the Council of School Representatives you should have received in your mailbox an information “pamphlet” on the pension unfunded liability. This was Provincial Executive Council's most recent step in addressing the liability issue.
It was designed to inform teachers on this complex issue and provide teachers with ready facts they could use in writing letters or in conversations, particularly with MLAs, on the issue. The last page of this document called for us to do just that. It seems that many teachers did.
Hansard records of the fall sitting of the legislature indicate MLAs from the three major parties raised the issue several times in the Legislature during question period. Letters written by teachers to MLAs on the issue were also tabled in the Legislature. In total the House saw over 150 letters on the issue tabled in the short fall sitting.
Responding to questions regarding the unfunded liability Minister of Education Gene Zwozesky indicated that there was no immediate intention to open discussions with the ATA but that he was aware of the issue. Finance Minister Shirley McClellan also responded to questions from Liberal Rick Miller saying “that she is not averse to talking with teachers about the unfunded liability and indeed, like many MLAs, she has talked about it with Association representatives in her constituency.”
While none of this indicates that any action is pending it does show that our efforts to raise the issue into the consciousness of MLAs and the government is succeeding. The question facing us now is, “what next?” It is my belief that we should take the initiative to try to get a dialogue started and this motion is our suggestion as to how that should be done.
Have a comment about this article? Want to write a letter to the editor or maybe an article yourself? Contact ataglance@ata38.ab.ca to find out more.
© December 2005, ATA Local #38 Calgary Public Teachers
