More on 70%

Excerpt from letter from Academic Council chair Shane White to UC president Janet Napolitano concerning the possible removal of the 70% limit on retiree health contributions by UC:

...The 2010 Post-Employment Benefits Task Force process resulted in an understanding that 70% would be the absolute floor for University contributions to retiree health, a social contract by the employees with the employer, a reduction in the employer contribution so that the benefit would be sustainable. Breaking this commitment could undermine the confidence of current and future UC employees, so it should not be a choice that is made casually. If a new policy is to come out of this process, the Senate’s view is that we look for ways to convey some form of commitment.

While we recognize that the administration wants to emphasize that these are not vested benefits, it is also worth keeping in mind that any benefit has value only to the extent that employees feel it can be expected to be maintained with a reasonably high degree of confidence. Put differently, the recruitment and retention benefits from any program are attenuated by anything that casts doubt on their permanence. Such an outcome is not in anyone’s interest...

The full exchange of documents on this issue is now on the Academic Senate website at:
http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/SW-JN-Retiree-Health.pdf