Jar of coins with "Retirement" label
Dear members,
According to York University's most recent audited financial reports, the University has achieved an operating surplus of $38.5M, one of the highest surpluses on record. In addition, the York Pension Plan itself has returned to a surplus position.
One of the biggest reasons for these surpluses is the very large package of savings measures embodied in the 2014-16 changes to the York Pension Plan. These changes were intended to bail out the University and the pension plan from a number of serious financial hazards, which clearly no longer exist. In the meantime, many employees at York have paid - or will pay - a significant price by these changes, which include:
- Much larger monthly employee pension contributions
- Higher levies charged to our "money purchase" pension accounts
- New and potentially costly limits on the indexing of our pensions during the first five years of retirement
A fuller report on these changes and the growing pension surplus can be found here.
YUFA has scheduled a special membership meeting to discuss the impact of these pension changes and possible proposals we plan to introduce for revisiting or reversing them, now that the University and our pension plan have a large financial surplus. We need your input on these proposals. Any changes that might be negotiated would be proposed in collaboration with York's other unions and would be subject to approval by the YUFA membership.
The details of the meeting are as follows:
Special YUFA meeting on pensions
Wednesday, January 24
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Founders Assembly Hall
152 Founders College
Once again, before attending this meeting, members are encouraged to read the pension backgrounder here. General questions about the York Pension Plan are welcome as well.
In solidarity,
Richard Wellen
YUFA president
Accommodation: Members who require accommodation should contact YUFA as soon as possible: email [email protected] (please use subject line: Accommodations) or phone 416-736-5236. While YUFA will make every effort to meet all requests, it may not be possible to implement certain types of requests received after Wednesday, January 17 at 12:00 p.m.