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The Retirees' Newsletter The Bi-Monthly Publication of the Retirees' Association (Faculty, Librarian, Administrator) The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4 Vol X II, No. 4, December 2002 First Published in July 1991 | |
| Issue # 48 |
Editor : Datta Pillay |
President's Report
First I would like to recognize the contribtions of two members of the
executive who decided not to stand for office this year. Don Briggs has
given dedicated service to WURA, thank you. In particular, I wish to
thank Phyllis Nolan for her term of office as Treasurer of WURA - she
has given outstanding service - thank you. At the same time, I wish to
extend a welcome to three new members of the executive; Norm
King, our new treasurer, Ken Pryke and Gord Olafson. We look
forward to working with them on your behalf.
These are not particularly good times for retirees. Our health
benefits under Green Shield have gone up about 38% - all the cost being
borne by the retirees. Those on Money Purchase have seen a significant
drop in their pensions - I personally have lost about $7000 a year - a
hard pill to swallow. At the same time, we are heavily indebted to the
individuals who gained the Minimum Guarantee for us. Increasing
numbers are falling back on the protection of the MG. The MG is the one
gleem of light in an otherwise dark picture. Again, this year, it was
increased slightly. What I have come to realize is that, for the most part,
ones retirement earnings are frozen at the level of the first day of
retirement - our position is frozen at that time. In other words, there
appears to be very little concern about actual retirees after they retire.
While faculty negotiate significant increases for themselves retirees are
totally ignored. The condition of retirees is masked, to some degree, for
the members on Voluntary Early Retirement - a significant number of
"retirees". In fact, the real impact of retirement does not hit until they
ACTUALLY retire at 65. It is my impression, although I do not yet have
the data to support my view, that numbers of retirees are slowly sinking
into poverty - some members MUST be having a very difficult time
making ends meet - especially those who retired in the 80s and early
90s.
During the first week of December, 2002, I attended three meetings on
your behalf - one was disturbing and the other two the first really positive
meetings, I have attended for a long time. On December 2, 2002, I
attended a pension meeting, at which the 4 managers of our funds
report. What disturbed me was the change in the way of reporting and
the general evasiveness of the replies to questions. The representative
of Mercers used to present a graph that demonstrated how the 4 pension
managers performed in comparison with all other Canadian pension
managers. For the past five years they have consistently fallen below the
mean. This time they did not present this information and questions that
attempted to address the issue were evaded. My question
is WHY? Since the managers explained their relatively poor
performance as a consequence of their relatively conservative
investment policy, one would expect that even in this down market
they would, in fact, do better than their competitors. Why, then, did
they evade the questions. The meeting left me puzzled.
On 4 December, 2002, I met with Rita Lacivita (Interim Director of Human Resources) and Cheryl Paglione, Manager of Pensions and Benefits. The transition from Jim Butler and Jim Skinner to the new
administrators with direct responsibility for our affairs is complete.
I was favourably impressed with the openness and willingness to
share information. I do believe we will find them very helpful
especially in our attempts to create a meaningful data base.
On 5 December, 2002, I attended the second meeting of the Trust
Fund Committee. I came away more positive about the Trust Fund
than I have ever been. The actions of the representatives of the
Administration and the Faculty Association demonstrated, very
clearly, that the establishment of the Fund and its implementation
are important concerns. Money WILL be placed in an account in
January - approximately $1.5 million. We are meeting again on 18
December, 2002 to consider the steps to be taken to get the fund
up and running. While the fund will not address all our problems it
is, very clearly, a step in the right direction. Hopefully we can build
on it. In something of an irony, I dont think that present retirees will
benefit significantly from the fund rather it will be future retirees that
will, if the fund grows, reap the benefits.
I wish you all a happy holiday season. I hope that my next report will
provide you with concrete information on the establishment of the
Trust Fund.
Alan Metcalfe
President, WURA
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