Author: uclafaculty

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What the Latest PPIC Poll Tells Us

Byuclafaculty

The Public Policy Institute of California has released its latest poll data. Jerry Brown seems to be pulling ahead of Meg Whitman. The poll covers the period including the last debate and “whore-gate.” (If you don’t know what that is, it apparently doesn’t matter to voters so forget it.) As far as UC goes, Whitman favors defined contribution pensions for new hires of public employees, but it appears the Regents will select a defined benefit option. Would she insist on DC for UC? As noted in earlier posts, regardless of who wins, there could be a ballot initiative mandating DC….

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What Happens to Recruitment and Retention of UC Faculty When the Privates Discover They Ain’t Poor?

Byuclafaculty

When the stock market fell and rich higher ed institutions such as Harvard looked at the absolute value of their loss, they froze in panic and cut budgets. But yours truly predicted that the day would come when the Harvards and Stanfords of the world would realize that they are still rich with what remains. (Their losses would be proud endowments for many institutions!) That realization is beginning to settle in – as the excerpt below from the Boston Globe indicates. Harvard is making various adaptations to increase its liquidity. It has suspended certain additions to its physical plant. Now…

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Good News/Bad News on UC Budget

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee reports good news/bad news on the UC budget. Although the article doesn’t say so, part of the funding for UC (and CSU) for this fiscal year is coming from federal stimulus monies which disappear next year. After massive cuts, higher ed funding rises in new California budget (excerpt) Oct. 20, 2010, Laurel Rosenhall A wave of mass student protests, a new lobbying strategy by university leaders, and the governor’s desire to leave a positive legacy in education during his final year in office led to a remarkable turnaround for California’s public colleges in the budget he signed…

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The Downhill Slide of Private Pensions: An Issue for UC?

Byuclafaculty

A report based on U.S. Bureau of the Census data notes that the proportion of full-time, full-year employees in the private sector that were participants in some kind of pension plan (defined benefit or defined contribution) has been dropping over the past decade. The participation rate was about 60% in 1999. In 2009, it was about 54%. There is no breakout of California data. The decline suggests why public pensions have become an issue, even apart from concerns about pre-funding. In an earlier post, I noted that much of the focus in the UC discussion of its retirement plan has…

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Sales of Class Notes for Slackers Are OK With the LA Times

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post on this blog noted that CSU was trying to use a state law to ban commercial sales of student notes from classes. The notion behind the law is that the class materials are the property of the instructor. Today, the LA Times editorializes against the law. Excerpt: The law goes too far… If the notes belong to the students who jotted them down, the state has no business interfering with what they do with them — share or sell (assuming they could actually find a buyer). And copyright laws already exist to protect the professor’s words from…

Study Indicates California Public Employees Receive Total Compensation About Equal to Private Sector Equivalents

Byuclafaculty

A UC-Berkeley study released recently indicates that California state and local workers receive roughly the same total compensation as private workers, once you standardize for various demographic variables and education via regression analysis. Taken together, public workers receive about 6% less in wages and salaries. But they get higher benefits so that the difference washes out, i.e., no statistical difference between public and private. Although the authors don’t say so directly, nationally – as a table in the study shows – non-mandated benefits are about 30% of total comp for state and local workers. (Mandated or legally-required benefits are things…

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UC Administrators in Denial Over Pension Options?

Byuclafaculty

Professors Jim Chalfant of UC-Davis and Helen Henry of UC-Riverside served on the Post-Employment Benefits (PEB) Task Force and signed the dissenting report. The majority of the PEB endorsed options A and B which are “integrated” with Social Security. The dissenters found A unacceptable and B possibly acceptable if combined with a strategy to make total remuneration (salary + benefits) competitive. Option C was added to the menu by the dissenters. It is a simpler and more generous pension than A or B, but adds to the employee contribution as a result. Dissenters found C to be acceptable, again with…

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Up, Up, & Away With Employee Health Costs in 2011

Byuclafaculty

Open enrollment begins Oct. 25. Employee costs of health care are going to rise. (Surprised?) You may not recall that UC uses a progressive system in four brackets so that higher paid employees pay more for health care. In 2010, the four annual salary brackets ($ 000s) were $46 and below, $46+ to $92, $92+ to $137, and $137+ and above. The brackets adjust upwards in 2011 to $47 and below, $47+ to $93, $93+ to $140, and $140+ and above. As an example, Anthem Blue Cross PPO for the employee only (no dependents) in the four brackets will cost…

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Schwarzenegger on Pensions: An Unusual Address Which May Help UC

Byuclafaculty

Governor Schwarzenegger’s weekly radio address of 10/15/10, which is also posted on YouTube, slammed various Republicans by name for voting against the bill in the legislature that was needed to approve the deals he has cut with SEIU and other unions and was part of the budget agreement. (See earlier post.) In the YouTube version, he not only names errant Republicans but puts pictures of them on the screen. Below is the text of the address. A link to the YouTube version is also below. However, note that whatever the Regents come up with in December as the UC version…

Pension Principles

Byuclafaculty

Dear FA at UCLA Members, The University is in the process of developing a New Pension Tier, withlower benefits and higher contributions, which would be offered to all newemployees as of July 1, 2013. Current employees in UCRP may be given achoice between staying in UCRP or choosing the New Pension Tier, but forthose who stay in UCRP, the contributions will increase and likely be higherthan those offered in the New Pension Tier.  For more information, go towww.uclafaculty.org and look under Post Employment Benefits Taskforce. The current development phase of pension redesign offers faculty and allemployees an opportunity to respond…