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Association Activities |
Retirees for the Year 1998
This year 19 faculty, 1 librarian and one administrator are retiring. The University (Dr. Ross Paul) and the Faculty Association are arranging a luncheon - date to be finalized in May. Invitees will include 1998 retirees plus the members who retired in 1997.
Abdel-Sayed, George, Civil Engineering
Bart**, John, Business Administration
Berry, Mary, Nursing
Boase, Joan, Political Science
Boen, Daniel, Law Library
Cuthbert** Marlene, Communication Studies
Janzen Henry, English
Matthew** Malcolm, Geology
Selby, Stuart, Communication Studies
Sly, Dorothy, Religious Studies
Burton, Bruce, Political Science
Halford** Peter, French
Kobasigawa, Akira, Psychology
Kroeker, Bernhard, Social Work
Mendels, Roger, Economics
Metcalfe Alan Kinesiology
Moriarty, Richard, Kinesiology
Smedick, Lois, English
Tracy, Derrick, Mathematics & Statistics
Van Wijngaarden, Arie, Physics
Smith** Frank, Registrar
** Voluntary Early Retirement
As per past practice the package will include a letter of Invitation, an application form to join the Retirees' Association and couple of copies of previous Newsletters. President Kumar Chatterjee will distribute these letters in person at the retirement party.
13 Pension Payments in 1997
Canada Trust made thirteen (13) pension payments in 1997, which included two payments in December 1997. This additional payment caused problems to many members and impacted on their tax payments for 1997. At the Spring General Meeting on March 12, 1998 members were very upset that neither a letter of explanation nor the reasons for this change were sent to all retirees.
On checking with Mr. Jim Skinner, Manager of Pension and Benefits-Department of Human Resources, it was learnt that several members complained about late payments since January 1 happens to be a holiday. Human Resources advised Canada Trust to make the payment by the end of December. This was done without any particular agenda, but to accommodate the requests of several retirees. Human Resources regrets this action that did cause difficulties for the year 1997, but they assured us that from 1998 onwards it would be corrected. Therefore, all retirees will receive 12 payments in 1998. All retirees of the University of Windsor - faculty, librarians, administrators, staff and maintenance staff were caught in this thirteen payment squeeze.
It appears that 1997 payments cannot be corrected or any adjustments made with Revenue Canada. This was an unfortunate non-intentional action, eager to help some, but in the process caused major problems to all of us. Perhaps, we should move on....
Special Thanks to Faculty Association
One of our members Pat Galasso for many years has been valiantly pleading the case of Retirees, to receive their fair and equitable treatment in matters of pension and benefits. His last communication with the Faculty Association Council members resulted in an invitation for Pat Galasso to present a statement to the Faculty Association General Membership Meeting on April 23, 1998.
Stan Cunningham served as delegate to read the following statement on behalf of Pat:
STATEMENT TO THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING OF THE FACULTY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR - TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1998
I would like to thank the Council of the Association for inviting me or my Delegate (Stan Cunningham) to address the membership regarding the pensions.
As some of you know, I have been associated with pension matters for many years, both while active and now in retirement. Let me assure you that the concerns become much more vital during retirement than while active. I hope that through this effort, fair and equitable solutions to problems I perceive will quickly emerge. The distribution of pension surpluses and the Indexing of our Minimum Guarantee (MG) Pension component are my chief concerns. These concerns also relate to the Money Purchase (MP) component of our pension, and the consumer price index, or cost of living.
By way of explanation, our pension plan is made up of two components - the Money Purchase and the Minimum Guarantee. Therefore, it is a hybrid plan rather than just entailing one or the other. At retirement and each year thereafter, calculations are made, and whichever component is greater for each member, that is the amount he or she receives. Being on the Minimum Guarantee is not a reflection of inferior career performance, but rather is related to the different methods used in calculating the two values as well as other variables too complex and time consuming to discuss here.
The Money Purchase component derives from the matched contributions of each Member and the University,
while (continued on page 5)
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