December 21, 2011

Looking Forward to the New Year

Dear Colleagues,

I hope your fall semester was a successful one. Now that grades are in, we all deserve a nicebreak for the holidays.

Next October our collective bargaining agreement with Temple will expire. The TAUP Executive Committee has begun the process of preparing for negotiations for a newcontract. We have appointed a negotiating team, have been reviewing the currentcontract and are developing a survey questionnaire to ask you all your opinions about the issues you think are important.

The web-based, anonymous survey will be made available to all members of the bargaining unit, both dues-paying members and nonmembers, during the week prior to the start of the spring semester.

Please look out in your email that week for the link to the survey. Your thoughts are very important and we strive to represent fairly everyone covered under the Temple-TAUP contract.

I hope your holidays are filled with brightness, love and cheer! Best wishes for a happy, healthy, productive and prosperous New Year!

Art Hochner
President

December 14, 2011

TAUP and Temple administration have reached agreement on a Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program (VRIP), which provides eligible faculty with an incentive stipend of 50% of annual base salary plus $1,000 for each year of continuous service at Temple, if they choose to retire either on June 30, 2012 or December 31, 2012.

The plan is being offered only to tenured faculty who will be at least 65 years old as of the date of retirement. In negotiations, TAUP sought a larger stipend and extension to NTT faculty. The plan agreed to, however, was the best that could be achieved.

TAUP calculates that there are approximately 200 faculty who would meet the eligibility criteria by December 31, 2012. The VRIP is intended to reduce the university’s costs and to benefit faculty who are considering retirement in the near future. Of course, it is purely voluntary, and no one should feel coerced into it.

We are announcing the VRIP now so eligible faculty have as much time as possible to consider the plan and their options. Naturally, there are tax and investment consequences to take into account. TAUP plans to hold a symposium early in the window period for eligible faculty to interact with retirement counselors from a financial institution.

The administration is preparing the necessary information and forms for availability soon.

Eligibility

You are eligible to participate in the plan only if you meet all of the following criteria.

For a retirement date of June 30, 2012, you must:

• Be a full-time, tenured faculty member employed by Temple as of June 30, 2012;
• Be at least 65 years old as of June 30, 2012; and
• Have at least 10 years of continuous service with Temple as of June 30, 2012.

For a retirement date of December 31, 2012, you must:

• Be a full-time, tenured faculty member employed by Temple as of December 31, 2012;
• Be at least 65 years old as of December 31, 2012; and
• Have at least 10 years of continuous service with Temple as of December 31, 2012.

Incentive Payment

Eligible faculty who choose to retire under the VRIP will be entitled to a lump-sum cash payment equal to:

• 50% of your annual base salary; plus
• 1,000 for each completed year of service with Temple.

For example, if your base salary is $100,000 and you have been on the faculty for 30 years, you could receive an incentive payment of $80,000 (i.e., $50,000 + $30,000).

Transition to Retirement Plan Enrollees

Those who have been in the Transition to Retirement Plan (TTR) and who entered the plan after April 2011 will be eligible to participate. However, their actual salary as of June 30, 2012, would be the basis for the calculation of the 50%. Since those on TTR are already on 50% salary, that would provide them with ½ of that (25% of original base salary), plus, of course, $1,000 per year of service. Thus, if your original salary had been $100,000, as of June 30, 2012, your reduced salary would be $50,000. If you had 30 years service by that time, then your incentive payment for the VIRP would be $55,000 (i.e., $25,000 + $30,000).

Window and Rescission Periods

The window period for enrolling in the VRIP runs from Wednesday, February 1 through Friday, March 30, 2012. Once you sign the relevant documents, you will have a seven-day rescission period within which you can change your mind and withdraw.

At this time, TAUP is giving you all the information we have. Nevertheless, if you have questions, please contact us at 1-7641 or taupaft@aol.com.

 

December 9, 2011

Mid-YearAppointments & the Tenure Clock

TAUP and Temple administration recently came to an agreement on how tenure and promotion procedures work for Tenure-track Faculty hired mid-year. As has been the practice, faculty members appointed after the start of an academic year will have the partial year removed from the tenure clock. Similarly, this partial year will be removed from the calculation of when the mid-term, i.e., third-year, review should take place.

The contractual tenure and promotion processes (see Article 11 of the Temple-TAUPcontract) presume that the candidate is hired at the beginning of an academic year. This agreement clarifies the situation for candidates hired at other times.

If you have any questions, please contact TAUP at taupaft@aol.com or 1-7641.

 

December 8, 2011

Post-Retirement Health Benefits
Extended to Same-Sex Domestic Partners

Good news for TAUP bargaining unit members who would like to include their same-sex domestic partners in their post-retirement health coverage. As the resolution of a grievance filed by a TAUP member, TAUP has worked out an agreement with Temple administration to do so.

The TAUP bargaining unit member’s partner will be eligible to elect coverage under the retiree medical plan and to pay premiums on a monthly basis for such coverage, given these conditions:

• The employee’s same-sex domestic partner has been certified by the University as called for in Article 22, Section U(1);

• The partner is covered under the employee’s health plan at the time of the employee’s retirement; and

• The TAUP bargaining unit member is covered under the active post-retirement plan (see Article 22, Section D) at the time of his/her retirement.

The cost of coverage for the partner will be 60% of the prevailing medical and prescription rate. The remaining 40% of premium will be paid by Temple and will be taxable to the TAUP retiree; the university will issue the appropriate tax documentation to the retiree. Prefunding of the benefit for the domestic partner will not be an option. If payment is not made on a timely basis each month during the TAUP member’s retirement, the partner’s coverage will be terminated and cannot be reinstated under Temple’s retiree medical plan. Both the employee and the partner will be covered under the same plan as other eligible retirees.

As you may be aware, the federal tax code limits the university’s ability to allow retirees to prefund retiree medical coverage for their domestic partners. However, Temple administration agreed to meet the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement regarding benefits for certified domestic partners; that is, they offer TAUP retirees the opportunity to elect to pay for same-sex domestic partner retiree medical benefits on a “pay-as-you-go” basis beginning at retirement.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to call (-7641 or 215-763-2287) or email TAUP (taupaft@aol.com).