Friday, March 13, 2009

RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PROGRAM

On Thursday, March 12, 2009, UFF-PJCFA began negotiations with Administration concerning the retirement incentive program Dr. Meadows announced at All College Day.

Gean Ann Emond, Vice President of Business Affairs, presented this proposal to the Bargaining Team:

1. Eligibility: Must be a full-time PJC employee and 62 years of age OR 30 years creditable service in FRS with at least six (6) years full-time employment at PJC as of June 30, 2009.
2. Employee Participation: Participation is voluntary. Eligible employees have until April 30, 2009, to elect to participate. The decision of an employee to participate is irrevocable.
3. Effective Date: Employees electing to participate will choose an effective date of termination no later than June 30, 2009. If a faculty member is teaching a guaranteed summer contract, he or she may elect to leave at the end of that contract.
4. Benefits: Participants will receive the following benefits:
a. A one-time incentive payment equal to 100% of the employee’s sick leave balance as of the date of termination, not to exceed 125% of the employee’s annual salary, or 164 day contract for full-time faculty members. To the extent possible, the incentive payment will be handled in a tax-advantaged manner by being placed in the existing Bencor 401(a) Plan and/or an employer sponsored 403(b) Plan.
b. The college will pay the employee’s monthly health insurance premium for a period of three years, or until the employee reaches the age of 65, whichever comes first.
5. Employees who chose to participate in this incentive program will NOT be eligible to participate in the Optional Phased Retirement Program (OPRP).
6. In addition to the incentive payments described above, employees participating in this program will be paid annual leave payoffs in accordance with College policy.
7. The college reserves the right to limit its liability for the incentive program to the lesser of $500,000 or an amount that does not reduce the fund balance below 5%. If this limit is reached, employee participation will be based on the dates the employee elected to participate in the incentive plan.

Paige Anderson, Chief Negotiator for PJCFA, voiced the following concerns about the proposal:

- Any faculty member who has suffered a long-term illness and therefore has little sick-leave would not benefit from this proposal. As a result, a minimum dollar amount should be guaranteed.
- Since the dollar amount of the incentive is not capped per person, if a few high level administrators applied for the RIP, the bulk of the $500,000 allocated for the program would be used up before faculty could opt in. Therefore, a portion of the RIP funds should be allocated to the faculty before other employees are considered.
- If a high-level administrator opted into the program, that position would most likely have to be filled and the savings would be minimal.
- If a highly-paid faculty member opted into the program, should the position be filled, it would most likely be filled at about 50% of the retiree’s salary.

After this, PJCFA countered with these proposals:

2. Eligible employees will be allowed to enroll between April 15 and April 30.
a. 4 (a). Eligible employees will be offered a one-time incentive payment equal to 100% of the employee’s sick leave balance as of the date of termination, not to exceed 125% of the employee’s annual salary, or 164 day contract for full-time faculty members, OR $20,000—whichever is greater.

Mrs. Anderson also proposed the following:

1. A total of $300,000 of the $500,000 be reserved for faculty retirement incentives.
2. If the $500,000 allotment is reached, the employee’s retirement application will not be processed unless the employee wished to retire without the incentive. Those individuals whose request for the retirement incentive were not funded would have the right to first refusal should additional retirement incentive funds become available.

Mrs. Anderson inquired about the eligibility of employees who are currently participating in the Optional Phased Retirement Program (OPRP). Administration said that these individuals are already retired and are not eligible to participate in the retirement incentive.

Administration countered with these offers:

4(a). The $20,000 lump sum was not acceptable and proposed 25% of the employee’s salary as the lump sum amount.
They would not agree to set aside $300,000—or any other amount-- for faculty retirement incentives.

PJCFA asked the following questions:
(1) How many employees are eligible to participate in the incentive program as presented by Administration?
(2) How much money does the Administration anticipate the incentive program saving the College?

The Administration was not able to answer these questions.

Neither the Faculty Association nor the Administration had any additional proposals to make.

The College’s Chief Negotiator stated that this plan would be presented to the non-faculty employees whether or not the faculty ratifies the proposal. Talks will continue between the chief negotiators over the next few days.

Monday, March 9, 2009

2009-2010 UFF-PJCFA ELECTION RESULTS

The ballots for the 2009-2010 UFF-PJCFA elections were counted on Friday, March 6, 2009. The election was held via an AFT Leadernet online survey tool. A printout of complete election results is available in the Faculty Association office.

Here are the results:

President: Blaine Wall, English/Communications
Vice-President: Cynthia App, Visual Arts
Treasurer: Janet Levins, Biology
Secretary: Paige Anderson, Secondary Education

Executive Board:
Rich Cacace, Computer Science
Pete Falzone, Mathematics (Milton Campus)
Paula Ingram, Developmental Studies
Richard Irvine, Business
Keith Prendergast, English/Communications
Kathleen Shelton-Lowe, Secondary Education

Senators:
Paige Anderson, Secondary Education
Cynthia App, Visual Arts
Jennifer Brahier, Mathematics/Developmental Studies
Carol Hemmye, English/Communications (Warrington Campus)
Charlotte Sweeney, Learning Resources Center

Alternates:
Jen Erhardt, English/Communications
Janet Levins, Biology
Lisa Sims, Behavioral Sciences
Carol Stinson, Nursing
Mike Will, English/Communications


FEA Delegates:
Paige Anderson, Secondary Education
Charlotte Sweeney, Learning Resources Center
Blaine Wall, English/Communications


My thanks to all who voted and to all who have volunteered to serve the PJC faculty during the next academic year. As a reminder, please note that the following faculty will also be serving you during the 2009-2010 academic year:

Grievance/Contract Enforcement Chairman:
Joyce Kaplan, Biology

Negotiating Team:
Paige Anderson, Chief Negotiator
Cindy App, Visual Arts
Jennifer Brahier, Developmental Studies/Mathematics
Joyce Kaplan, Biology
Patricia Reppenhagen, Visual Arts

Monday, March 2, 2009