Letter from President Cunningham to Mr. Brian Brown

August 23, 2001

Brian Brown, President

University of Windsor Faculty Association.

The 2001 Agreement (in Letter 10, p. 172) specifies a new "Trust Fund for Retired Members" to subsidize the benefit costs of retired members. The same passage mandates dispersal of the annual income from said trust fund "by its trustees in a manner agreed by the parties for the benefit of retired members," and also the disposition of amounts which will be negotiated between the parties.

The Retirees' Association believes that, in whatever shape the trustees' structure shall take, it is important that the Faculty Association component of the "trustees" should comprise equal representation from the Retirees' Association and from the Faculty Association.

The reasons are obvious. Current retirees have an immediate, not a remote future interest in benefits; and they are unsatisfied with the Faculty Association's vision of what it means to represent retirees. Also, over the next few years, as the number of retirees increases, the retiree constituency will grow in proportion to WUFA's actual numbers, and eventually outstrip it.

To this end, and also because the structure and operating rules of these hypothetical trustees are so indeterminate, WURA urges the Faculty Association to refer this whole issue to the Faculty Association Pension and Benefits Committee; and that it schedule a meeting of this Committee to attend to these matters by late September, say, after September 20.

The Faculty Association Pension and Benefits Committee has not met in nearly a year. Until shortly after our fall General Meeting in October, I remind you that the retirees' representatives are still John Meyer, Datta Pillay and Stan Cunningham.

Sincerely,

Stan Cunningham,

President, WURA

Letter from President Cunningham to Mr. Jim Butler

August 24, 20001

Jim Butler,

Director, Human Resources.

University of Windsor

Dear Jim:

This letter is in response to your request to John Meyer, at the August 2 pension/benefits meeting, that the University of Windsor Retirees' Association (WURA) respond to last April's Report of the Retired Members Pension Committee (D7).

I'm responding as President of WURA, and my comments reflect the discussions, and agreements reached at meetings of the WURA Executive.

WURA is encouraged to see that the D7 Committee undertook to review, formally and systematically, the adequacy of retirement and health care benefits provided by the University of Windsor, for current (i.e., prior to July, 2001) retirees; and that this review was followed up by a report with recommendations.

In regard to some of the suggestions and recommendations, I'd like to offer the following responses:

1.) With regard to the health benefits plan, we would like to see the opt-in period for current retirees extended from the proposed six months, to one year. The suggested window is a major change from current opt-in policy, and a new challenge that may appear strange and threatening for many.

Second, six months would be insufficient for current retirees to examine alternative benefit arrangements for themselves and their spouses. Health benefits have become a complex field, and since retirees must depend largely upon their own investigative efforts, a year seems to be a more appropriate period.

2.) A mandatory opt-in for current retirees, after which they would no longer be able to join the U of W health benefits plan, is not something we are prepared to recommend to the retirees.

For one thing, we understand that only about one half of retirees currently subscribe to the U of W Health Benefits Plan. Our impression is that in many or most cases this is because the spouse, often still employed, is also covered by another plan. Accordingly, we would want an accommodation in sign-up provisions, clearly spelled out, that would not force current retirees to make an uncomfortable choice while espousal coverage is still in effect. In any case, we are currently devising a questionnaire on these issues that will be sent out to retirees this fall, and we also plan to discuss these issues at our fall general meeting.

3.) In the meantime, until we have collected more information and had more feedback from our members, we prefer to remain with the status quo in the area of sign-up provisions.

4.) We do, however, favor the introduction of the "couples" category as long as it does not mean increases in premium rates for single or family subscribers.

5) While the proposed health plan offers some savings, we think they are very modest. We do not think that they represent "considerable savings" as was suggested, I am told, at the August 2 meeting.

6.) We favor, too, the recommendation (#8) that would see the University of Windsor promote "one post-retirement benefits program" among all its employee groups--the assumption being that premium costs would be less.

I am also sending a copy of this response to the Faculty Association.

Sincerely,

Stan Cunningham,

President, WURA

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