News

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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…

Searching for Merced

Byuclafaculty

Still expanding in Hard Times, UC-Merced needs a new chancellor. From a UCOP press release of 10/15/10: University of California President Mark G. Yudof has named a committee of university faculty, staff, students, alumni and community representatives to advise him in the national search for the next chancellor of UC Merced. Russell S. Gould, chairman of the UC Board of Regents and a member of the committee, appointed five regents to serve. Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang, who has been chancellor of UC Merced since March 2007, announced in September that he plans to step down on June 30, 2011. He will…

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Nice Profile in LA Times of Prof. Don Shoup & His Campaign Against Free Parking

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today profiled Urban Planning Prof. Don Shoup whose book on “The High Cost of Free Parking” is widely cited, including this nice photo. As a previous post has noted, Prof. Shoup has also campaigned against parking on sidewalks around UCLA. The article is at http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-1016-shoup-20101016,0,4071324,full.story An interesting local observation from the profile: In Shoup’s view, Old Pasadena and Westwood Village illustrate the effects of different parking policies. In 1993, Old Pasadena installed $1-an-hour meters and began using the revenue to spruce things up. Many area employees who had parked on the street and moved their vehicles every…

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You Might Not Know It But We Are In the 3rd Year of a 4-Year Plan to Raise Faculty Salaries to Market Competitiveness

Byuclafaculty

Nostalgia Department: Just to let you know, below is a letter from then UC-President Robert Dynes to campus chancellors: September 25, 2007 CHANCELLORS Dear Colleagues: I am writing to convey good news with regard to faculty salaries. Now that the California State budget has been passed, The Regents have approved the first year of a four-year plan of faculty salary increases designed to raise faculty salaries to market competitiveness and to restore the integrity of the rank and step system of faculty advancement. In 2006, the Academic Senate systemwide Committee on Academic Personnel prepared a report on the present status…

Berkeley Faculty Association Calls for “Process D”

Byuclafaculty

The UC Berkeley Faculty Association (BFA) issued a report yesterday roundly criticizing the proposals of the Post Employment Benefits task force (PEB).  The report recommends rejecting options A and B put forth by the PEB majority, and also finds Option C (the faculty/staff dissenting report) lacking.  BFA calls for “Process D.”  You can download the full report (PDF) here, or read the short version on the BFA website.

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More Focus on the Outside Political Scene Needed When We Review Retirement Options?

Byuclafaculty

Uncomfortable Question: Are we too focused on internal UC politics in evaluating the various pension and retiree health care proposals? Is it a form of UC GroupThink? That issue was raised in a conversation with an administration official. We have tended to worry about what President Yudof thinks, what the Regents think, what various UC officials think, what Academic Senate leaders think, what UC unions think, etc. But in fact we could come up with a plan that somehow balances all these views but fails a public sniff test. Below is a straw in the wind from the San Diego…