TEAM MEMO
To: TEAM-IFPTE Local 161 Members
From: TEAM Office
Date: July 18, 2019
Re: New and Noteworthy
- Negotiations: At time of writing (midnight), negotiations are ongoing. We believe progress is being made toward reaching a deal and will provide a further update as soon as possible.
- TEAM Members’ Child Wins IFPTE Scholarship: Once again, and for the fourth year in a row, the child or a grandchild of a TEAM member has been awarded an IFPTE Dominick D. Critelli, Jr. scholarship. Leah Dawn McPhail, daughter of TEAM members Dwayne and Jennifer Gregorash, will receive $2,500 USD towards her university education. This fall Leah will attend the University of Manitoba, majoring in linguistics.
Application forms for TEAM’s 2019 scholarships will be available the week of August 12th.
- Pension Statements: As you may know, our December 31, 2018 Defined Benefit Pension Plan statements are now available on the Bell Benefits website. The office received the following questions:
- Has Bell changed the pension formula? No, the pension formula is unchanged. The pension you will receive will be the same as it would have been from MTS.
- Why are my numbers different from my MTS statement? It is to be expected that there will be some differences. The monthly pension is an estimate based on certain forward-looking assumptions, such as your future pay increases. If you compare your 2016 and 2017 MTS pension statements, you will see that the pension estimates are most likely different too.
- Has Bell made any notable changes to the pension plan? Yes, in a good way. In November 2017 the Plan’s investments were adjusted to reduce risk and volatility by increasing the portion invested in low risk assets. The pension statement shows that the target low risk asset allocation is 70% of the total fund vs only 40% under MTS.
Unlike our previous pension statements, the Bell statement shows the estimated commuted value. For long-service employees the commuted value can be very large, and as such, it is strongly recommended that members who are contemplating “cashing-out” their pension seek advice from someone that is not in a conflict of interest with where the money will be invested, for example, a fee-for-service Certified Financial Planner.
- February 2019 VRTIP: A member pointed out that we hadn’t shared the outcome of the February 2019 downsizing. The VRTIP targeted only six positions in TEAM. The results are as follows:
- Two members in targeted positions were accepted for the VRTIP.
- Two members in targeted positions opted to move to non-TEAM positions.
- Nine members from non-targeted positions were accepted for the VRTIP.
- One member in a targeted position was denied a VRTIP and remains in the workplace.
- Seventeen members in non-targeted positions who applied on the VRTIP were denied.
- No members were laid off.
Note: Bell has not advised TEAM of any future downsizing initiative.
TEAM-IFPTE Local 161
204-984-9470 or 1-877-984-9470
www.teamunion.mb.ca
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