The Retirees' Newsletter
The Faculty and Librarian Retirees' Association, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada

Issue # 15 -- December, 1995

CAN OUR MEDICAL COSTS BE REDUCED ?

COMMENTS FROM OUR PRESIDENT

By Edwin Habib, President

Next Spring the Faculty Association will start contract negotiations with the University Administration. They are now collecting a list of items that they will bring to the table. The Pension and Benefits Committee has recommended that the Retirees by included in the Faculty Medical Plan.

If the Faculty Association accepts this recommendation and successfully negotiates this on our behalf, what will it mean to us? OHIP fees are paid for us by the Provincial Government, and, if the current government does not change this, our only expense will be the Medical Plan. We pay for Extended Health Services with Semi-Private hospitalization, etc., and MEDEX. . The University pays half the cost of our Dental Plan. Most of us cannot afford the Drug Plan. Our group is small and our premiums are relatively high.

If we are included in the Faculty Group, the University will probably pay for the entire package. Note I said "if" and "probably". It is true that the average age of the larger group will increase. The larger the group the lower the premium, but the higher the average age the higher the premium will be. These effects may cancel each other. It should also be mentioned that the Faculty Plan includes a Drug Plan. If this goes through it will result in significant savings for us. Dare we hope?

EXECUTIVE PONDERS POSSIBLE PROPOSALS RE CONSTITUTIONAL DEFINITION OF MEMBERSHIP

At a meeting of the Executive Committee November 29th, possible proposals for changes to the Constitution were discussed. The possibilities considered included (1) allowing membership in the Association by that group which is included in the coverage of the Faculty Pension Plan under the rubric "certain employees"; (2) specifying that full membership in the Association required the member to have retired from the University under the provisions of the University of Windsor Faculty Pension Plan. Any final proposals agreed upon by the Committee will be included in detail in the February Newsletter, and would be put before the March membership meeting for consideration by the membership

The Committee also decided that, even though a "national' federation of retiree groups seems remote at this time, our Association should take steps to establish communication with other faculty retiree groups in Canada, particularly in Ontario, with a view to exchanging information on how retiree relationships with the University are being structured and handled at other institutions. Action to initiate such contacts should be taken in the near future, it was decided.

Finally, the Committee gave strong support to the formation of interest groups within the Association. To date, interest has been expressed by many in a computer users' group, a skiing group, a swimming group. Such groups are very difficult to establish and to keep active. A year ago, for example, Joseph Habowsky worked extremely hard to establish a "fitness and fellowship" group, but finally had to drop it for lack of sustained interest. A few more comments along this line are included in the column Editor's notebook on page 9 below.

The Retirees' Newsletter is published by the Faculty and Librarian Retirees' Association of the University of Windsor. It is published five times per year: in February, April, June, October and December.

Its main purpose is to inform on matters of immediate practical import to faculty and librarian retirees - such as pensions, benefits, association activities, etc. In addition, The Newsletter welcomes all items that members wish to share with their colleagues - personal anecdotes, experiences, observations, reports and creative work of all kinds. A special invitation in this respect, goes to our out-of-town members.

Any editing will be kept to a minimum, but the editor reserves the right to edit, especially for space reasons. If it is at all possible, please send a diskette along with your hard copy. But don't hold back on that account - even if it's written (legibly) by hand, your item will be entirely acceptable.

Items intended for publication should be received by the 25th of the month before publication.

The Newsletter is set up entirely using WordPerfect Version 6.1, and is initially printed on a Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4L printer. Multiple copies are then done, collated and stapled by Speedy Printers on Tecumseh E. at Howard Avenue - at, as far as we can tell, the best price available in Windsor. We have found their service excellent.

Any member who would like to take part in the preparation of The Newsletter on a regular basis should contact the editor. Such work is, of course, voluntary.

The Editor is Bill Phillips. Associate Editor is Joan Hackett.. You may contact The Newsletter by writing c/o the Fac/Lib Retirees' Association, Univ. of Windsor Post Office, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4. Or e-mail to philli3@uwindsor.ca. Or use Bill's home address: 1186 Grand Marais Road West, Windsor, N9E 1C7. His telephone there is 972-0588.

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