In October 2012, the UWSA contracted professional advice from Eckler Ltd. regarding proposed pension plan changes (PDF) that were being recommended to the Board of Governors on October 30, 2012. At that Board of Governors meeting, the UWSA requested that the Board delay their decision to allow further investigation of the equability of the impact on plan members. After much discussion, the Board approved the pension plan changes as proposed.
Following that decision, the UWSA Board of Directors determined the need to be more actively engaged with the Pension and Benefits (P&B) Committee. Moving forward, through its standing Pension, Benefits & Staff Compensation sub-committee, the UWSA Board will communicate regularly with our staff representatives on the P&B committee (Monika Bothwell and Christine Wagner) to ensure that we are working together in a timely manner to keep Waterloo staff informed of pension- and benefit-related issues and changes. The UWSA Board, in partnership with its staff representatives and P&B committee, also hopes to gain a better understanding of the P&B committee's decision-making processes and protocols in relation to recommended pension and benefit plan changes in the future.
The UWSA Board looks forward to the results of a planned P&B committee review of the pension plan protocols and development of a new protocol setting out the parameters under which the Committee would be permitted to increase the indexation for pensioners in a given year in the future. We encourage you to learn more about this planned review, and your pension and benefits, by reading the 2013 Report to the Community.
Questions can be directed to the UWSA's Pension, Benefits & Staff Compensation sub-committee through its chair, and UWSA Director, Lawrence Folland.