As of April 1, members in the CBC pension plan will be able to buy back any full-time service they worked as temporary or contract employees during the two-year waiting period for the pension plan. Union representatives at the Consultative Committee on Staff Benefits have been pushing for this change for years.

You may have noticed that the change was announced as part of the corporation’s Voluntary Retirement Incentive Plan (VRIP). The buyback change is permanent and will continue after this VRIP expires. During the VRIP, members who are eligible for the program will get priority for having their buyback requests processed.

The cost of buying back the waiting time service will be the actuarial cost. That means the earlier someone buys back the time, the less it will cost.

We’re still working on eliminating some of the other buyback problems, such as the inability to buy back part-time service.

For more information, http://www.www.pensionweb.ca/cbc-radiocanada.

Flu shot update

Fewer CBC employees opted to have the seasonal influenza shots at work this past fall. Almost 1,900 people were vaccinated at CBC workplaces across the country, a drop of about 300 from 2009. Roughly 20 per cent of CBC employees were vaccinated at work.

The decrease seems to be in line with what happened in the general population as people opted not to be vaccinated after all the H1N1 fuss in 2009.

The CCSB and CBC split the cost of the vaccination program, with $19,150.05 coming from the Employee/Retiree pot of funds.

Your reps at the March CCSB
Carrie Bradshaw
Bob Fisher
Marc-Philippe Laurin
Ralph Legare
Jon Soper
Gabi Durocher