UCOP Neglects Shared Governance and Seeks Authority to Lower Retiree Health Benefits (UPDATED)
The Office of the President is asking for authority to lower UC's contribution to retiree health benefits. This reduction would take the form of removing UC's commitment to a payment floor of 70% of aggregate retiree health premiums ( 7 ). This figure had been set as part of the long and public discussion over benefits and debates that surrounded the President's Task Force on Post-Employment Benefits and approved by the Regents in 2010 . That discussion you may recall was long and involved and resulted in a series of steps (including the restarting of University contributions) to help improve the long-term stability of UCRP. Importantly, at that time employees agreed to what was, in effect, a pay cut through resumption of employee contributions to a retirement system that had been poorly managed by the Regents. These debates were heated and the results controversial. But they resulted in what current Senate Chair Chalfant has called an implicit " soci...