The Retirees' Newsletter

The Retirees's Association ( Faculty, Librarian, Administrator), University of Windsor, Windsor, Ont. Canada

Vol IX, No. 1, February 1999

Campus News -continued

REPORT SAYS RESTRUCTURING SAVING $500,000 A YEAR

The net savings of the new academic administrative structure on campus is over $500,000 annually, according to a report presented to Senate by President Ross Paul yesterday.

Dr. Paul said he recognizes a lot of factors come into play and that some would attribute some savings to restructuring where others would not. "This is my understanding of the status of the process which continues to evolve," he said.

The report shows a net decrease of 24 administrative head positions resulting in a net decrease of $68,000 in administrative stipends and 52 course remissions at a savings of $182,000 (the cost of hiring sessional instructors for 52 courses.)

An additional savings of $375,000 is the result of eliminating the positions of Dean of Arts, Dean of Student Affairs, Dean of Continuing Education and Registrar. On the other side, there are 19 course reductions for the chairs of program. That's an added cost of $101,500.

SKINNER SUCCEEDS

IN SOLVING 13 Pension Payments ISSUE in 1997

Members would recall, that last year about this time all of us received our T4 slips for 13 pension payments in 1997. This problem arose because of a directive by the Human Resources Department, in response to complaints from some members, that, if the first of the month is a holiday, then the pension, should be deposited on the last day of the previous month. Thus, in December 1997, we received two payments one in the beginning and the second at the end of the month.

To protests from retirees and the Executive, that the 13 payments did cause problems for several members in increased taxation, the initial response from Human Resources was that they accepted the responsibility for this problem, but they could do little to correct it. However, it appears that Jim Skinner was silently and diligently working behind the scenes to find a remedy and he finally resolved it.

All of you who received your T4 slips for 1998 would note that amount of pension shown is only for eleven(11) payments.

Editor's Note:

The Members of the Retirees' Association salute Jim Skinner on his sincere efforts on behalf of all retirees and his success.

USER ID CHARGES

It was reported to you earlier that retirees who paid USER ID fees would be reimbursed. The Secretary of the Association forwarded the address of all such members to the University for reimbursing.

The following is the letter received from Ms. Linda Menard-Watt

To: Datta Pillay@uwindsor.ca

Subject: Retirees Userid

Dear Datta,

Thank you so much for your assistance in getting the addresses of the retirees who had paid the userid fee which we received in January. Jaya Sreedharan, upon her return in January from her annual vacation, matched your address list with the amounts actually paid by individual retirees. The list was sent over to Accounts Payable at the end of January.

Depending on the A/P cycle, retirees who paid the initial fee should receive a check from the University within a week or so. If you hear of any difficulties in this process, please let me know so that it can be resolved quickly.

Also, please express my thanks to the Retirees Executive Committee for reviewing and accepting the proposal outlining the procedures and policies with respect to the Retirees' userids. I look forward to working with you and the Retirees group in this regard.

Linda Menard-Watt

Information Technology Services

Phone: (519) 253-4232 Ext. 2757

Fax: (519) 973-7083

E-mail: LMW@UWINDSOR.CA

Editor's Note:

The above policy is the result of discussions between the Joint Committee of the Retirees Association and the University Administration.

This is another example of amicably solving retirees concerns through discussions in the Joint Committee.

Grievance Update

We reported earlier, that the Faculty Association Executive Committee, rejected the appeal by the retirees group. The next step was to appeal to the Council of the Faculty Association on January 27, 1999. After prolonged debate, the appeal was lost by a vote of 7 to 6. It is a healthy sign, given that the entire membership of the Council was not in attendance, especially the ones sympathetic to our case.

Retirees Executive Presses on for Representation on Faculty Association Committees

Within the next few years, the number of retirees, will equal and then exceed the number of active faculty and librarians on staff.

Since the Faculty Association represents retirees in the area of pension and retirees' benefits, we believe that beneficial results can be facilitated by more clearly formalized arrangements between the growing Retirees' Association and the Faculty Association.

To this end, we requested representation on the following committees.

1. Faculty Association Executive Committee

2. Faculty Association Council

3. Contract Committee

4. Negotiating Team

5. Pension & Benefits Committee

6. Faculty Association and University Pension Committee - D7Committee

Faculty Association Appoints Task Force Committee

Membership:

Three from the Faculty Association

Three from the Retirees' Association

To examine and report, on the above request of the Retirees' Association and its impact on the Faculty Association constitution and voting privileges.

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