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Video: The Governor’s May Revise News Conference

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post on this blog analyzes the May Revise news conference held by Gov. Brown on May 16. There is video of that news conference on the governor’s website but – at least on my computer – it tended to pause and freeze. The version on the calchannel was even worse and caused a total crash at one point. So below is the video transplanted to YouTube by yours truly which works best.

It is divided into 4 parts due to YouTube time limits. Part 2, it might be noted, contains a statement by the governor that he would support a tightened state spending cap and some kind of pension changes. Neither one was described in any detail. Technically, California has a spending cap already – the Gann Limit approved by the voters in the aftermath of Prop 13 (when Brown was previously governor). However, Gann was largely gutted by later initiatives.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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Report: Affordable Public Higher Education is Possible Today

Byuclafaculty

A report this week from Reclaim California Higher Education (a coalition of faculty and student groups) makes the case that affordable (even free) higher education is within reach for California. The privatization experiment has failed. The harm to a generation of hard-working, high-aiming young people is proven. It’s time to return to what works: the proven Master Plan for higher education in California. California, with its own resources, can afford to restore top-quality, accessible, affordable college and university opportunity to every qualified student. In fact, Californians can afford nothing less. You can read a summary and download the entire report…

Academic Senate Rejects New Pension Tier
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Academic Senate Rejects New Pension Tier

Byhigbie

Representatives of UC faculty on all campuses delivered a strongly worded rejection of the proposed 2016 pension tier. Reports from the campuses were extensive and overwhelmingly negative (link to PDF). Berkeley faculty called the proposal “imprudent and potentially fiscally irresponsible.” Davis faculty said, “It is a myth that UCRP is too generous,” and went on to detail a long list of likely negative outcomes from the new tier. Irvine faculty noted “the level of disappointment and depth of passion expressed from all quarters about the negative impact that the imposition of the PEPRA cap has on the future of the…

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Faculty Voice Opposition to Pension Proposal

Byhigbie

On Friday, the UCLA Academic Senate hosted an informational meeting that explained in clear terms that this is a bad, bad plan for faculty. What to do about it was less clear cut. Shane White gave a deeply detailed account of financial aspects of the plan (Slides here: Pension Presentation by Shane White). Among the things we learned: Last year’s budget deal introduced the “PEPRA cap” to UC retirement benefits. This is not a limit on retirement pay-outs, but a cap on the earnings that are used to calculate retirement pay-outs. So any new hire after July 1, 2016 who…

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Pension Changes Proposed: lower benefits, little savings, weaker UCRS

Byhigbie

The University of California will soon have a third pension tier if the Regents approve a plan put forth by the Retirement Options Task Force on Friday. UC President Janet Napolitano charged the Task Force, which included management and Academic Senate representatives, with finding a way to implement her agreement with Gov. Brown to set a cap on pension benefits in exchange for state funds to support the pension system. Over the weekend, as faculty activists read the task force report and a second report produced by Senate leaders (Guide to reviewing the recommendations of the Retirement Options Task Force)…

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The Degradation of Faculty Welfare and Compensation

Byuclafaculty

Colleen Lye and James Vernon (UC Berkeley Faculty Association) UC faculty need to wake up to the systematic degradation of their pay and benefits.  In 2009, when the salary furlough temporarily cut faculty salaries between 6 and 10%, faculty were outraged.  Yet since then our compensation has been hit by a more serious, and seemingly permanent, double blow. First, despite modest salary rises of 3% and 2% in October 2011 and July 2013, faculty take-home pay has been effectively cut as employee contributions to pension and healthcare have escalated.  Faculty now pay more for retirement and healthcare programs that offer less.  Secondly, faculty are…