Who would have ever thought a year ago that we would be in a lockdown like we are right now. We must keep vigilant with using our masks and keeping that 3 metre distance. It looks like maybe the Provincial government will be forced to get rid of the private long term care homes. That has been the disaster of this whole past year. The doctors and the media are powerful lobby groups in our society today.

The OSSTF offices in Toronto are in transition to a new building, so some membership renewals have not been processed. Bob Smith, our Membership Chair is following through on this matter. The OSSTF President, Harvey Bischof is retiring. He has done a great job dealing with the media. But, what a hard couple of years he has had dealing with the Provincial Conservative government with contract negotiations and now the pandemic. Our provincial government has not put enough dollars into making the schools and school buses safer for students and staff. I am wondering why the idea of having one school board in Ontario has not been raised during this time. It sure would save money that could go back into making schools safer.

We hope you enjoyed receiving the OSSTF mask, pen and stylus. Members of our Executive enjoyed making contact with you. If there was anyone out there that did not receive a masks, get back to me and I will see you get one. Just before Christmas, we gave donations from ARM Chapter 3 to the local Food Bank, the Maison McCulloch Hospice and Better Beginnings, Better Futures. 

We are using Zoom to keep in touch. We have had George Ng (OTIP) in a session on our Extended Health Care plan and in a couple of Executive meetings. We have access to any guest speakers that other ARM Chapters host, via Zoom. I would recommend checking these Zoom speaker events. It is not difficult to click on the link to get into the event -you just reply to the invitation that you receive from Carolyn at <armd3osstf@gmail.com>. Once you have registered this way, you’ll be sent a link to enter the webinar.

Keep safe.

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