YES just five more sleeps till we leave for Australia. I am so excited. We just received an email from Brian and Annette this morning. This past week they have been up to Geelong where Annette participated in the Austrialian swim meet. I am not sure what it was called, but she won third in her age group in the 100 and 200 metre breaststroke swim, so she has two Bronze medals to show for her wins. Brian is the proudest husband in all of Australia. I knew they were going up there for the meet and we are so proud of her winning place. She will be floating on air.
We will have to take pictures with her and her medals to show Jill Ackroyd for sure. Annette will be in the Olympics next we hear. She swims every day, so I will be going with her alot to swim while I am there.

This morning we are packing and getting ready to go. I just have to work Monday to Thursday, then on Friday till 10:30 am. and then I am done for the next month at work.

I have been up to Edmonton 6 times in the last two months. I am an alternate on the Negotiating Committee with AUPE Union, negotiating the new flex benefits and a new service agreement. It is very interesting but the driving to Edmonton back and forth is very tiring when you are alone and the roads were icy. This last trip was touch and go, I just about stayed over night in Red Deer, but decided to continue on and got home by 6 pm. We usually stay at the new Hampton's Inn on 100th Avenue & 170th St. close to the AUPE office, but this last trip we had to stay at the Executive Royal Inn. It wasn't as nice a hotel as the Hampton's and the staff at Hamptons knew us by name, so they made us feel so comfortable. The Hampton's have a very nice continental breakfast too which we liked. The service in the restaurant at the Royal Inn was the pits. It took over an hour to get a steak cooked.

The negotiations are going good. They start meeting with ATB on Monday. As I am only an alternate to the committee, I don't have to go again unless someome cannot make the meetings. I didn't want to be on the committee as a member, because I knew we would be away in March, so I let my name stand for alternate. I hope by the time we get home from Australia the negotiations will be over and done with and I won't have to go again till fall for the convention.
I don't think these new Flex Benefits will fly with the membership. It is hard enough for the committee to understand them, let alone the ordinary member. You can't really figure out what one would be paying for the benefits, so it is hard to know if you want them or not. All ATB keeps telling us is the glorified benefits we can pick and choose, but people don't realize that all that costs the employee more money and the employer will pay less. The real clincher is the life time maximum cap on orthodontics is $5,000. So the premium to cover orthordonics cost you more and what does $5,000 buy you at an ortho office. Not much. Maybe a visit or two. Then on prescriptions for a single person, every prescription you take to the pharmacy to fill, there will be a deductible of $7.00 per prescription and $11.00 for an employee with two or more persons on your benefit plan. Well I have 6 prescriptions that I get filled every three months, so that will cost me $66.00 every three months, which is $264.00 a year deductible for just my prescriptions, not including Ardell's prescriptions. Plus I pay a premium for the prescription benefits. Mind you my pills alone would cost over $568.00 every three months wihout the coverage I have now. So people are going to have to be very careful when they decide what coverages they want to take. The problems is the younger employees really don't care, until they see the deductions on their pay cheque and the older members will suffer just as much too.
So it is the same old story, the employer will pay less and the employee will get socked in the teeth.

Well I have more packing to do, so better get at it before the day is gone here.

Love you all,

See you when we get back March 27th.

Shirley