CRA Newsletter April, 2025

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Translations: FR
CRA Newsletter April, 2025
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Greetings CUPE Retirees,

What a time we are in. We’re watching to the south of us where not only have public sector workers faced wholesale firings, but have also seen their collective bargaining rights — indeed their right to belong to a union — stripped away. And that’s not the half of it.

 

Our very existence as a nation is in the crosshairs. By the time you receive this newsletter, we should be getting close to a federal election day that will shape our country for the next few years at least. While we want to prevent a government that will take us down the road paved by our American neighbours, we also know that the old ways — cuts to revenues and services, privatization, and further environmental degradation — will not take us to a better future.

 

We need an honest voice for workers in the House of Commons. We need the NDP, who have already proved that they get things done for working people, like dental care, child care, and the beginnings of pharmacare. A lot of us are thinking about voting Liberal, maybe for the first time, so we don’t end up with an even worse party in government. It’s a choice that calls for careful consideration.

 

If you live in a riding with an NDP incumbent or one where the NDP usually lands in second place after the Conservatives, please don’t throw your vote away to a Liberal candidate. We need to keep that voice that puts workers first to be strong enough to be heard.

 

Speaking of elections

This is also an election year for CSRA, when members — almost 700 of you — choose a president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, and chapter representatives for a three-year term that begins January 1, 2026. For the executive committee, after two terms each Pat Daley, president, and Shelly Gordon, vice-president, and, after three terms, secretary Carole Lefebvre have all decided not to re-offer. Leanne MacMillan intends to stand again for treasurer.

 

The first order of business is to appoint an elections committee. The responsibilities of the committee can be found at https://cuperetirees.ca/csra-election-guidelines/. If you are interested, please let us know at cuperetirees@gmail.com.

 

We’d like to get the process underway in May, since it takes several months to get in nominations, mail out and tabulate ballots. That timing should allow for an in-person transition meeting of old and new executives during the CUPE National convention in Toronto, October 6-10.

 

There was a vacancy on the current executive board when Peter Tartsch stepped down as Saskatchewan chapter representative. Happily, Andrew Huculak has stepped forward to fill out the rest of the term and participated in a recent Zoom meeting of the entire board. Our association is in healthy financial shape. Chapter representatives have been looking for opportunities to meet with members to exchange news and ideas.

 

Solidarity

 

At the request of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, we sent a letter in February to Commissioner William Kaplan who is reviewing the current bargaining dispute with Canada Post. Out of the myriad issues, we focussed on some of the problems seniors have with the move to community mailboxes. We called for a return to door-to-door delivery in order to improve mail service and address seniors’ safety and possible social isolation, as recommended by CUPW.

 

We also wrote to the former federal minister for seniors to support the National Pensioners Federation and the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism, who are among the many voices calling for an enhanced United Nations declaration on the rights of older persons.

 

Just a reminder that we now have CSRA flags for use at rallies, on picket lines, information tables and anywhere else that calls for a CUPE staff retirees’ presence. Contact your chapter representative or cuperetirees@gmail.com if you would like to use one.

 

Benefits and bargaining

First the good news: GreenShield is now covering the cost of the RSV vaccine for those aged 75 and older. If you paid out of pocket for the shot after November 2024, you may be eligible for reimbursement. Unfortunately, in the bad news department, this does not help anyone who paid for the vaccine before last November.

 

Over the course of the last year we have asked members what we should be suggesting to the staff unions when it comes to bargaining proposals. Benefits are the main concern as coverage has not increased for many services such as massage. As well, there is concern there is not coverage for some alternative health care providers that members may be seeking out as the shortage of family doctors grows.

 

A new question has come up about the use of botox to treat TMJ and other pain conditions. It is currently not covered in our plan. If you have had to take this treatment and pay out of pocket, we would like to hear from you as soon as possible.

 

We will be writing to the staff unions shortly to list our suggestions for bargaining, including the discrepancies from province to province in coverage for those aged 65 and over, which we have been trying to address for some years.

 

In closing, give some thought to whether you’re interested in offering for one of the positions that will be up for election later this year. Feel free to contact any one of us if you would like to learn about what is involved.

Comings & Goings

Please welcome the following new members:

 

NS

  • Wanda Power

 

NB

  • Ralph McBride

 

QC

  • Pierrette Beaudoin

  • François Bellemare

  • Jean-Pierre Proulx

     Édith Cardin

 

ON

  • Elizabeth Dandy
  • Walter Devoe
  • Karen Ducharme
  • Judith Lanthier
  • Charles Van Vliet

SK

  • Don Moran
  • Mary Ellen Wood

AB

  • Debra Gervais-Arbane

  • Tammy Laurin

  • Kirk Oates

With condolences to colleagues, friends and family, we bid farewell to:

ON

  • Beverly Drane
  • Albéric Mbayahaga – National

  AB

  • Dave Werlin

 

Important Contacts

For change of address, change in beneficiaries, or any other matters, please be sure to contact Pensions at CUPE National Office. Human Resources does not maintain files on retirees. One member reports that they recently learned that when your spouse or dependents lose coverage of another benefits plan, so that benefits are no longer coordinated but only covered by GreenShield, you need to contact the CUPE benefits staff and fill out a form.

 

 

In solidarity,

 

Pat Daley, President

Shelly Gordon, Vice-President

Leanne MacMillan, Treasurer

Carole Lefebvre, Secretary