Retiree Chair Report By Fred Dougan February 2017

It was been a great winter so far this year. Things are going well with the Local Union Executive Board. There are not a lot of problems. Things are also going very good as well with the Retired Workers Chapter Executive Board.

Donald Trump has done in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) as he promised he would. Trump and Trudeau will be meeting this month about NAFTA. We may not have to wait long to see what nightmares will come out of that meeting. Justin Trudeau is also saying he will cut deals with the eleven other countries who would have been parties to the TPP. We will have to watch closely to see what is going to be in those deals.

In just one week, Trump has shown that he will be living up to all of the things he said before the election. Much more is to come. I think that when all is said and done the results will not be good for Canadians and for the rest of the world. Turning your back on humanity, like Trump is inclined to do, is not doing the right thing.

Early this month we learned there will be a permanent layoff of (600) of our members at CAMI in Ingersoll. This is a tragedy, as we cannot afford to lose more well paid manufacturing jobs. The responses to this by the Trudeau and Wynne governments has been very weak and leaves a lot to be desired. They need to take such developments much more seriously than they are. This is a situation that can and must be effectively addressed at the 2017 Canadian Labour Congress Convention which will take place in Toronto in early May. We need real action coming out of the convention not just a lot of speeches which will be forgotten a week later.

At next month’s meeting, I have Anne Marie Baxter from the “Niagara Centre for Independent Living” who will be giving a presentation on the “Direct Funding Program”. I hope everything goes well with her presentation.