The Retirees' Newsletter

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

Vol X , No. 4, October 2000

From: WUFA Pension and Benefits Committee

To: Faculty Association Executive Committee

Subject: Recommendations to the Contract Committee on Pension and Benefits

The recommendations are in two parts. Part A - Active Faculty and Part B - Retirees

Part A - Active Faculty:

• Increase the pension benefits formula in stages; recommend moving from 1.45 to 1.55
• Examine the feasibility of negotiating a more cost-effective VER
• Reduce the early retirement costs by 0.25% per month for each year a member retires before the age of sixty-five
• Examine a more cost-effective usage of monies allocated for the pension holiday, ie., a gradual reduction and savings going to other pension improvements
• Look at the feasibility of increasing general contributions to MPC from general revenues
• Progressively move towards a three-year average for calculating pension benefits

Part B - Retirees - Priority One:

(a) • It is recommended, that all retirees ( MG and MP) at the University of Windsor, receive the same rate of increase from the pension investment funds. Further, WURA is committed to this principle, even if such a policy results in a progressive phasing in.

• Immediate consideration is to be given to those retirees who have been seriously disadvantaged by a long-term MG status. Numbers and data should be provided by the administration to WUFA and redress be achieved in the next contract, 2001.

• The remaining surplus amount (approximately $ 1.509,609) of the excess funding as at July 1, 1998 shall be used to establish a Contingency Reserve in the Minimum Guarantee Fund - as per agreement between Dr. W.C. Miller - WUFA and Ms Gwen Ebbett for the University dated October 14, 1999. This reserve should be used for addressing the concerns of MG retirees.

(b)

• Provide full coverage of health benefits for all retirees and equivalent (canadian dollar value) for those who reside out of country.

(c)

Effectively with the next two contracts (2001 and 2004) the pension holiday concept should be phased out.

Priority Two:

(d) • To improve the indexation of pension, increase MG formula to 1.4 or 1.5 retroactively (possibly from the escrow surplus agreement). Alternatively, this could be done in one of two ways 1. Increase 0.5% for those retirees, who retired at 1.25%, 1.3%,1.35%. Or 2. Bring all retirees to 1.4% retroactively.

NOTE: We need to seek the advice of an Actuary for the above.Priority Three:

(e)• Encourage a four-year moving average for determining the retirees' MPC pension. (To even out MPC yearly income)

(f)• Investigate setting up a reserve, to ensure that MPC pensions will not declineAppendix:

Information Questions:

a) What are the "legal constraints" and the "Plan reconfiguration" entailed by a new system of parity rates?

b) Investigate the establishment of a supplemental fund (external to the pension plan), to distribute a percentage of future pension surplus to retirees.

c) What are the implications and the feasibility of creating an independent Board (Committee) with appropriate representation that is external to the contract. One such model is that of Queen's University. This would eliminate the various five or six committees that now officially exist.

Page one (Issue index)Next page