Saying No to UC’s Pay Cut to Fund Pension!
Saying No to UC’s Pay Cut to Fund Pension!
Saying NO to UC’s Paycut for the Pension!
In March, the Regents voted to re-start contributions to the pension for workers without a union, beginning July 2007. Regents are planning to vote in May on how much unrepresented employees will pay. UC wants employees to start paying 2% of their salary toward the pension, moving up to 8% in a few years. We need to send UC a strong message: NO!
How Healthy is Our Pension?
The UC pension plan is still today one of the most financially sound pension plans in the country. In 1990 UC was able to stop paying anything at all into the pension plan, yet has been able to meet all retirement obligations since.
UC says the plan will remain over 100% funded until 2009, so there is no need to rush through changes before we bargain in 2007 and 2008.
Who Should Pay?
At some point, contributions need to be made to keep the plan adequately funded. The question is: who should pay for it. What did UC do with the money they saved on our pension since 1990? It clearly didn’t go into our salaries!
In the 1980s, UC paid up to 16% of payroll to fund our pension. That 16% was paid by UC, not employees. UC employees had paid approximately 2% to their pension previous to 1990, when contributions stopped and this 2% was redirected toward the DCP. UC has said they would like to begin by redirecting the 2% toward our UCRP pension, and that they support “gradual” increases of employee contributions, up to 8% of employees’ pay.
Why UC’s Spin is Wrong
UC conveniently overlooks our history of poverty wages and expects us to be grateful that we haven’t had to contribute to our pension for so long. UC pretends that it is no big deal to ask us to start paying for our pension now.
At CSU, where wage rates are 26% higher for custodians, workers pay 5% into the pension. That means the take home pay at CSU is still about 21% higher than at UC (26% minus 5%). That also means that retirement payments for workers at CSU are higher than those doing the same job at UC, since those payments are based on salary as well as years of service. If UC raised our pay by 29%, we might consider an 8% pay cut to fund the pension.
AFSCME’s Position:
AFSCME has told UC that contributions should be made by UC, not the employees. UC workers have worked for severely below market wages for years. Asking employees to cut their pay in order to contribute to their pension will be extremely hard on employees, and hurt the University’s ability to recruit and retain staff.
Take Action!
AFSCME has a plan to fight changes to our pensions and benefits! Your MAT team leader or organizer will be contacting you soon with information about our fight. For more information call your local AFSCME office or 888-856-3299.
