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Letter: Retired SD43 support staff are getting ‘thrown under the bus’

The Editor, Re. “ Coquitlam School District to pay $35,000 in damages to retired union members ,” (Tri-City News, Sept.
Custodian cleans a school floor.
Custodian cleans a school floor.

The Editor,

Re. “Coquitlam School District to pay $35,000 in damages to retired union members,” (Tri-City News, Sept. 20)

As a retired non-teaching support staff member of SD43, never did I expect that I would, along with nearly 600 others, be thrown under the bus at this point in my life.

Having started in the district in the early 70’s and managing to gain enough hours to be able to pay into a retirement and extended benefits plan, my retirement was based on what I was going to receive as a benefit package. Now we are being faced with being allowed to stay on this plan until the end of 2032 (the school district’s number) or take a payout and hopefully be able to obtain an extended benefit plan as good as we now have IF we can even be covered.

Pre-COVID, We were advised by mail and not in an organized meeting that this was happening. I have tried to get answers from those who should be giving us some answers. Other than the district office, no one answers phone calls or emails to our union office.

This is very disconcerting and disgusting that as retirees, this is how we are treated. After all, if it were not for the non-teaching support staff, the district office, schools and teachers would not be able to give the students in the district the education they so richly deserve.

Patricia Roberts, Kamloops