The Retirees' Newsletter

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

Vol X I, No. 2, June 2001

active in research with large NSERC Grants and directing a total of 10 graduate students are not given proper office space and a free parking facility, when they are subsidizing the University with large grants and bringing in about $ 500,000 in B. I.U.'s per year.

It was suggested that President Ross Paul be provided with a list of retirees who are still interested in contributing to the University.

5. Agenda Spring General Meeting - The agenda was approved and on the motion Kumar Chatterjee and Seconded by John Meyer, it was resolved that we should invite President Ross Paul to the Spring General Meeting - Carried

6. Criteria for Bursary Fund Awards - Wilf Innerd, Chair, Bursary Fund Committee suggested three criteria a) Eligibility, b) Criteria and c) Application Form. He recommended that the eligibility be restricted to undergraduates only, since graduate students have other sources of funds available to them. With respect to criteria - a delicate issue - he suggested not to look at only grade point average (GPA), but to look at need, special circumstances, course load etc ( presently, a 3-course load qualifies them, but it is recommended that it be increased to 5). It was agreed that the minimum GPA would be 10.00 to qualify for consideration of an award. Finally, the application needs to be revised in consultation with the Awards Office.

7. Reports of D7 and Contract Committee - Stan Cunningham stated that the D7 committee has finalized the report and submitted it to the Faculty Association and University of Windsor.

Contract Committee(CC) - Alan Metcalfe reported the contents of the CC proposals and specially mentioned the new article D16, Benefits at 50%, indexing from 1.45 to 1.6%. WUFA Council has not yet approved a slate of names for the Negotiating Team. Bill Miller withdrew his name from consideration, since he felt there was a conflict of interest. The other names are Jeff Berryman, Brian Brown, Kathy Maskell, Heather MacIvor, Don Leslie, Jang Singh, Jake Soderlund and van den Hoven.

It was decided that some members of the Executive should meet with the Negotiating Team in Mid July to present the Retirees' case. It was also suggested that we should consider some special action, not tied to WUFA, to get some attention.

8. Treasurer's Report - Phyllis Nolan presented the interim report. The bank balance is $ 2,898.13.

Moved by Phyllis Nolan and seconded by Wilf Innerd that the report be forwarded to the General Membership - Carried.

9. Revised Health Benefits Plan - A revised structure to the Health Plan was presented by Jim Skinner in consultation with Green Shield in the D7 Report. In the new structure, there will be a Couples section, with reduced rates compared to the family rate. There was some concerns about the narrow window of six months to opt in or out.

John Meyer reported that the WUFA motion to OCUFA for considering a Province-wide health plan for all universities has not met with much success. Other universities are not interested.

10. Other Business- John Meyer reported on two matters a) On the pension issues, he stated that the Pension Managers are underperforming One manager reported - minus-1.8% and the other minus 1.2 for an average of minus 1.4 %. He suggested that we should advise the University to change managers and that WUFA should be more aggressive in pursuing pension matters. b) John was exploring the possibility of purchasing various products through University Purchasing Department. This matter was deferred to the next meeting.

Date of Next Meeting of the Executive Committee - May 10th, 2001 at 2.00 p.m. in Room 225 Biology Bldg.

The meeting adjourned at 2.55 p.m. Motion by Al Metcalfe/ Wilf Innerd.

Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Retirees' Association held on Tuesday, June12th, 2001 at 2.00 in the Biology Building Room 225.

Present: Stan Cunningham (Chair),Don Briggs, Jerry Malone, Alan Metcalfe, John Meyer, Phyllis Nolan and Datta Pillay ( Secretary)

Absent with Regrets: Kumar Chatterjee Absent: Gino Fracas, Wilf Innerd

1. Minutes of the meeting of March 8th, 2001 - On the motion of John Meyer and seconded by Jerry Malone, it was resolved that the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of March 8th, 2001 be approved.

2. Business arising from the minutes - None.

3. Announcements - Professor Charles Murrah passed away. The Secretary has sent a sympathy card on behalf of the Committee.

4. Correspondence - a) The was no additional contact with University of Alberta Association of Professors Emeriti sent us questionnaire requesting WURA activities. It was suggested that Dr. Ross Paul be invited to the Fall General Meeting.

5. Report from Committees:

a) Contract Committee: Alan Metcalfe made a report on Contract Committee activity. He had sent written comments to the WUFA Negotiating Team. There was no response on health issues for retirees. Further, he briefly touched on the counter proposals from the university, which may have some bearing on sabbatical research grants allowances, anomalies and additional pay for market differential. Datta Pillay commented on his informal chat with WUFA President Gerry Romsa, who indicated, that because of poor market performance, it is doubtful to expect any surplus, which in turn may wipe out the pension holiday concept.

Both Stan and Alan independently prepared a draft,

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