AGM 2014-05-27 Minutes
TELEPHONE RETIREES ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA INC.
BOX 23063 WINNIPEG, MB R3T 5S3
Minutes of the 15th Annual General Meeting of the Telephone Retirees Association of Manitoba Inc. (TRAM) held on Tuesday, May 27th, 2014 at the Heritage Victoria Community Club, 950 Sturgeon Rd. Winnipeg, MB.
- The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by President Dave Gnutel
- Mr. Tony Leonard was asked and agreed to lead in the singing of O Canada
- President Dave Gnutel asked for “A Moment of Silence”, to observe the lives of members/beneficiaries who passed away in 2013.
4. Report of Chief Scrutiny, Susan Bilyk, reported the following attendance numbers:
Members attending 191
Proxies sent in 302
____
Total 493
Based on the total number of members named Susan Bilyk declared the meeting Legally Constituted.
5. Dave Gnutel noted that Susan Bilyk would be acting as the Rules of Order Chair.
Note: At this time the agenda was tabled.
Dave Gnutel introduced Mr. Brian Meronek and Mr. Kris Saxberg from Darcy&Decon lawyers to give a formal presentation of the current state of the ongoing implementation process for the Pension surplus law suit. A number of points were brought out. Some main points are as follows.
MTS and the unions agreed to contract Mr. A, Kaplan of Toronto to act as our independent legal advisor and pension expert.
It has been agreed that the surplus allocation must be fair to all and could be either a lump sum or increased benefits or a combination of both.
There is a total of 9500 members of which 1300 members are in question as to being eligible to receive any benefits , 6100 members ( approx) were in the plan as of December 31, 1997 and may be eligible for payment.
There is a plan for all parties to meet in June.
It has been agreed by all parties that a draft resolution should be ready before September and that a firm proposal be brought forward to Mr. Justice Bryck at a set date in November.
It was made clear that there will be payouts, but at this time the actual amounts have yet to be determined based on rulings by the CRA and OSFI.
Mr. Kris Saxburg then gave a brief history of the life of lawsuit.
At this time both Brian and Kris took questions from the floor.
6. Minutes of May 20th, 2012
Moved by Glen McCoubrey, seconded by, Mr.Tony Leonard, to approve the minutes of the May 28th, 2013 Annual General Meeting. CARRIED
7. Financial Reports
Moved by Mr. Ian Broadfoot, seconded by, Mr. Ray Yeomans, that the audited Financial Report as of December 31st. 2013 be approved. (Original attached) CARRIED
Bill Hales identified and thanked Roberta Davis and Judy Wynnoble for the work and effort put into the audit. He also thanked them for agreeing to do the audit for 2013.
Bill also thanked Ms. Jo-ann Pelzer and Ms, Linda Kszywisko for volunteering to be the auditors for 2014
8. Election of Officers
As per Roberts Rules of Order, Tony Leonard asked the floor the required 3 times if there were any nominations to the executive board. Hearing non he asked for a motion to close nominations
Motion.
Moved by Mr. MacDonald, seconded by, Mr. Ken Young, to close nominations CARRIED
Mr. Tony Leonard confirmed that the slate of officers as presented to the membership was duly elected.
He then introduced the slate of officers for 2014-2015 to the membership.
President: Dave Gnutel, 1st Vice President: Harry Restall 2nd Vice President: Larry Trach, 3rd Vice President: James Burr, Secretary: Glen McCoubrey, Treasurer: Roberta Davis, and Past President: Susan Bilyk,
9. Pension Plan Report
Larry Trach (pension plan representative), gave a brief report on the pension plan.
He reported that MTS has agreed that they are willing to look at amending the pension formula (a lawsuit is pending regarding changing the formula itself) back to 1997.
Pension Plan representatives for 2014-2015
Rod Pennycook (Chair) - Retired (formerly with The Great-West Life Assurance Company)
Paul Beauregard - Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
Bob Linsdell - TEAM Representative
Debbie Marantz - CEP Representative
Brenda McInnes - Vice-President & Treasurer
Don Rooney - Director Labour Relations
Don Senkow - IBEW Representative
Laurie Stewart - Director Operations – Consumer
Larry Trach Retiree Representative
Note: The Pension Committee reports to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. The Pension Committee meets twice a year (Last meeting was held in December, 2013.)
The next Pension Committee meeting is set for June 17, 2014
10. Health Care Benefits
Dave Gnutel gave a brief presentation on ongoing meetings of the focus committee and STRATA (MTS benefits co-coordinator) regarding benefits to members from Manitoba Blue Cross.
The main topic of discussions was what BC was going to do with accumulated surplus funds from payments received.
Dave reported that BC has increased the payout for emergency out of province transport
11: Committee Reports
Membership Report.
Dave reported that there are now 1970 active members as of 2014
Website Report
James Burr reported that there are now approximately 200 hits per week on our website.
Christmas Luncheon Report
Bill Hales reported on the events that occurred at the Christmas lunch held in December.
12: Presidents report.
Dave Gnutel gave a brief presentation on how TRAM is doing and what the executive is doing on behalf of its members. He also thanked both Bill Hales and Bob Haden for their work and efforts on behalf of the membership.
New Business
As there was no new business brought before the floor Dave asked for any questions that members might have.
Most questions had already been covered by previous presentations there was a single question concerning how many members had not paid their dues. Dave replied that there were around 900 who have not paid their dues for up to 3 years.
Motion to Adjourn.
Moved by, Mr. Ted Scoles to adjourn at 3:05 pm. CARRIED.
THE NEXT AGM OF TRAM TO BE HELD ON THE LAST TUESDAY OF MAY 2015 AT THE CALL OF THE CHAIR.
_________________________ __________________________
Dave Gnutel, President Glen McCoubrey, Secretary