Pension Principles
Dear FA at UCLA Members,
The University is in the process of developing a New Pension Tier, with
lower benefits and higher contributions, which would be offered to all new
employees as of July 1, 2013. Current employees in UCRP may be given a
choice between staying in UCRP or choosing the New Pension Tier, but for
those who stay in UCRP, the contributions will increase and likely be higher
than those offered in the New Pension Tier. For more information, go to
www.uclafaculty.org and look under Post Employment Benefits Taskforce.
The current development phase of pension redesign offers faculty and all
employees an opportunity to respond and influence the final decision.
However, in this case, the timeline for response is extremely short: Nov. 1
for feedback to President Yudof, who will decide on which option to present
to the UC Regents, for a final decision in mid November.
Members of the Executive Board of the Faculty Association at UCLA have
studied the proposed options and the dissenting opinions and voted for the
Executive Board to join with the Berkeley Faculty Association, Senate
faculty members throughout the UC system, and UC unions (including the
UC-AFT, representing Lecturers and Librarians) in endorsing a list of shared
principles to guide decision-makers. Due to the short time period, we do not
have sufficient time to poll our members to see if the Faculty Association
as a whole wishes to endorse the list of shared principles or not. For this
reason, the endorsement will be in the name of the Executive Board only. If
any FA member would like to join us in supporting these principles, please
click on this link and forward your name to bobsamuels_us@yahoo.com
SHARED PENSION PRINCIPLES
1. We need to move to a full funding of the normal cost of UCRP. The
suggested new tiers do not address this issue.
2. There needs to be a credible plan for total remuneration.
3. We need to begin paying down the UCRP liability now.
4. We need more people paying more into UCRP and not fewer people
paying less.
5. There needs to be a full discussion of alternative plans with the
inclusion of faculty and staff at all levels.
6. We need a plan to pre-fund retiree healthcare.
7. We need to work together to get the state to pay its share of the
employer contributions.
8. The university should end supplemental retirement packages for
Senior Managers.
9. Any changes to the pension plan and retiree health should not
discriminate against low- and medium-wage employees.
10. We oppose raising the employee contributions to a high level in
order to induce current employees to opt into a new system.
If any FA member would like to join those supporting these principles,
please click on this link and forward your name to bobsamuels_us@yahoo.com
MEMBER FEEDBACK
The UCLA FA Board invites members of the FA to provide feedback about these
principles. Either email us at ucfa@earthlink.net or post a comment to this blog post. We also
welcome FA members to volunteer to be on the Executive Board.