UTFA has long taken great pride that retired members receive the same benefits as active librarians and faculty. In the latest round of negotiations, the current UTFA leadership came to an agreement with the University Administration on salaries and benefits for 2020-2022, but agreed to go to arbitration for 2022-2023 on our entire compensation package. According to the documents on the UTFA website, as part of the agreement the Administration has proposed to the arbitrator that any benefit increases will apply only to active members, and not to retirees. If the Administration succeeds, this will devalue your benefits especially as inflation raises the cost of services like physiotherapy or visits to an optometrist.
Members of former UTFA negotiating teams know that UTFA has avoided allowing such an issue to be given to an arbitrator because of the risk that the arbitrator would side with the Administration. If that were to happen, it is hard to imagine how UTFA might ever persuade the Administration to go back to the old practice.
The Administration's filing to the arbitrator also features three other issues of particular interest to retirees that are also now at risk:
Restrict the Deluxe Emergency travel provision to 60 days for people, including retirees, not on research or study leave.
Cap registered nursing services to $10,000 a year.
Introduce a 10% co-pay on extended health care claims – including drugs - to a maximum of $250.
You can read the Administration’s proposal on the UTFA website (see pages 15-16) here: https://www.utfa.org/sites/default/files/SBPW-MOS-UofT-01-24-2022.pdf . UTFA’s proposals are on page 10-14. We are very concerned because the Administration's proposal is focused on retiree benefits.
Skillful negotiators would not and should not have allowed our retiree benefits to be sent to arbitration and thus put at risk in this way. It has long been a pillar of UTFA negotiations that we do whatever it takes to ensure that retiree benefits remain the same as active member benefits and this guiding principle has now been put in jeopardy. As a result and depending upon the outcome of arbitration, it is possible that future benefits won in negotiations with the Administration will not apply to retired members. UTFA should have refused to settle this round of negotiations until retiree benefits were removed from the table. The current UTFA President’s approach calls into question her strategic acumen and her commitment to a core UTFA principle.
We urge you to restore good governance and principled leadership to UTFA. We encourage you to vote for Renan Levine for UTFA President.
Yours sincerely,
Sandy Borins, Professor Emeritus, Department of Management, UTSC and Rotman School of Management
Michael W. Donnelly, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, former VP of UTFA
Claude Evans, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream (Emerita), Department of Language Studies, UTM, former VP of UTFA
Louis Florence, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream (Emerita), Department of Management, UTM, UTFA Treasurer 2017-2020
Hugh Gunz, Professor Emeritus, Founding Director, Institute of Management and Innovation
Bernard Katz, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy
Judith C. Poe, Professor Emerita FCIC, Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, former VP of UTFA
Peter Russell, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science
Nelson Wiseman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science
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