The staff assembly is seeking volunteers interested in serving a leadership role within the staff assembly on the Staff Assembly Council. This is an exciting opportunity for senior and junior staff to engage senior leadership, expand their network, and help to improve the working experience for fellow staff members. 

The Staff Assembly Council currently consists of a chair, a vice chair/treasurer, a scribe, a program chair, a senior Council of University of California Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) delegate and a junior CUCSA delegate. 

ANR staff members are being sought to serve in the posts of junior CUCSA delegate, vice chair, program chair (s) and scribe. Candidates can be self-nominated or nominated by someone else.

Matt Baur is currently chairing the nominating committee, which conducts the elections and will communicate the results of the elections at the Staff Assembly Networking function at the ANR Statewide meeting in Ontario in April. In addition to Baur, the nominating committee includes two UC ANR Staff Assembly members at large. 

Nominations for positions on the Staff Assembly Council will take place from March 1 through March 9. Voting will be by survey and will take place March 19 through March 30. 

The duties of the positions can be found on the Staff Assembly website http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the “Bylaws” tab. In short, the vice chair/treasurer drafts annual budgets, the scribe takes meeting minutes, program chair develops programs and meetings, and the Junior CUCSA representative attends quarterly CUCSA meetings and participates in CUCSA workgroups.  All members of the council assist with committee responsibilities and committee assignments as needed. The council meets monthly by zoom and has in-person meetings once or twice a year.

If you have additional questions, please contact your local staff assembly ambassador.

 

On Feb. 6, Human Resources and Staff Assembly will host an online town hall with Vice President Glenda Humiston to discuss the results of the Staff Engagement Survey. The town hall will focus on three main areas raised in the survey: change management, performance management and wellness.

There has been a lot of activity around the results of the recently completed survey, including ANR report articles, blog posts and webinars. The staff engagement survey results and a recording of the Dec. 13, 2017, ANR Engagement Survey orientation webinar are available at http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the CUCSA tab. 

The town hall meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Feb. 6 via Zoom. Details for joining via Zoom are below.

When: Feb 6, 2018, 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Staff Engagement Survey Town Hall Meeting 

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/244588652

Or iPhone one-tap:

    US: +16465588656,,244588652#  or +16699006833,,244588652# 

Or Telephone:

    Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)：

        US: +1 646 558 8656  or +1 669 900 6833 

    Webinar ID: 244 588 652

    International numbers available: https://ucanr.zoom.us/zoomconference?m=Gh-henOyrhusK-VoaExAWjbxDueqU9Wc

 

The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council is pleased to announce the 2017-18 Scholarship program.

The UC ANR Staff Assembly has established a scholarship program that is available to all UC ANR staff employees and county-paid employees. The scholarship provides financial assistance to UC ANR staff to pursue career interests, develop new career paths, and address knowledge or skill gaps needed to reach professional development goals.

This year's award dates are for courses taken between May 1, 2017, and April 15, 2018. Deadline for applications is close of business April 15, 2018. Late applications will not be accepted. Courses taken after April 15, 2018, will be eligible for reimbursement on the next scholarship cycle of April 16, 2018, to Nov. 30, 2018.  

For complete details please go to the UC ANR Staff Assembly website: http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/News.

Last year's scholarship recipients were Jerry Harris, office manager for UCCE San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and Ria Debiase, pest management guidelines coordinator for the UC IPM Program in Davis.  Here's what they have to say about their experience:  

1. Tell us about yourself – Where do you work, what do you do, are you a county-paid or UC-paid employee?

Jerry Harris: My name is Jerry Harris. I am a county-paid employee and work for San Luis Obispo County. My position is the administrative services officer II, which can be translated as office manager. I handle all the administrative functions of the office and many other tasks as needed.

Ria Debiase: I work for UC IPM in the ANR building on Second Street. I am the pest management guidelines coordinator.

2. How did you hear about the UC ANR Staff Assembly scholarship program?

Jerry Harris: One of the members of the Staff Assembly informed me of the program.

Ria Debiase: During an ANR Staff Meeting where Matt Baur presented.

3. What class did you take and how does it relate to your professional development goals?

Jerry Harris: I am taking several classes as I work towards earning my bachelor's degree in business with an emphasis on accounting. I earned my associates degree in accounting back in 2012.  The junior level classes that I have completed for this scholarship have been: public administration, team building and intro to organization behavior, which I passed with two Bs and one A. All three of those classes were taken at National University. These classes helped me in my progress in earning my degree and are all with the intent to work towards achieving advancement in my career.

Ria Debiase: I took an intermediate stats class, which helped me gain a better understanding of the statistical soundness of papers I use as research for the guidelines. 

4. Was it difficult to apply for the scholarship funds?

Jerry Harris: No, it was pretty straightforward process.

Ria Debiase: The main challenge was some glitchiness in turning in copies of my receipts through File Vault. The completed course requirement was also a challenge, in that there are some courses I would only consider if the scholarship money was approved ahead of time. Otherwise the process was fairly straightforward.

Note from Staff Assembly: For future application submissions, Staff Assembly Council now requests copies of receipts via email instead of through the file transfer process. 

5. Will you apply for scholarship funds in the future?

Jerry Harris: Absolutely.

Ria Debiase: Yes, definitely. 

6. Would you recommend the scholarship program to other employees? 

Jerry Harris: Yes, this program really helps to offset the expensive costs of higher education.

Ria Debiase: Yes!

Ambassadors Meeting

The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council will hold a Staff Assembly Ambassadors meeting at the ANR Building in Davis on Oct. 10. The engagement will provide an opportunity for ambassadors to visit and network with colleagues and review Staff Assembly priorities. Additionally, they will discuss opportunities for staff to become more involved in addressing staff concerns and furthering organizational goals.

UC ANR Tote Bags

In an effort to help spread the word about UC ANR Staff Assembly, all Staff Assembly members will receive a We Are UC ANR Staff Assembly tote bag. Members of the UC Staff Assembly include all ANR staff, whether employed by the county or the university, represented by a union or not represented. UC ANR Staff Assembly Ambassadors are the points of contact for distributing the bags at each office.

CUCSA Fall 2017 Meeting

UC San Diego was the site of the CUCSA (Council of University of California Staff Assemblies) Fall 2017 Meeting Sept. 6-8. The meeting included a team building exercise, work group action planning, post retirement health benefit discussions and a review of UC Employee Engagement Survey results. UC ANR junior delegate LeChé McGill and senior delegate Jeannette Warnert represented UC ANR staff at the meeting.

On the subject of potential changes to post-retirement health benefits, CUCSA chair Lina Layiktez provided the summary below and links for more information.

Proposed change to post-retirement health benefits
The proposed action item for the July 2017 Regents meeting was to remove the 70 percent floor on the UC contribution to retiree health benefits and place a cap of 3 percent on year-over-year increases to UC costs. This is a policy change to offset the accounting rule changes required in "GASB 75." GASB 75 requires that the full actuarial value of other postemployment benefits (OPEB) be included on the systemwide balance sheet. This means that UC will have a perceived “new” liability of $21 billion, which would affect the system's overall credit rating. A hit to the UC's credit rating has obvious impacts to financing for the university.

The “new” GASB 75 requirement definition is subject to interpretation, since it was already a liability that was disclosed in previous year's financials. The value of this liability under current assumptions/retiree rules is approximately $21 billion. The current assumptions are being driven by the number of retirees in the system plus the number of potential retirees (active staff and faculty) and how much it would cost the system in health-care costs should the current employees retire today.

What does this all mean?
By removing the floor and capping UC's costs, the university effectively transfers rising health-care premiums to retirees. The assumed rate of health-care cost increase is 7 percent. Over the course of 20 years this would flip the proportion that UC pays to ~30 percent and the retiree to ~70 percent. The 70 percent floor was designed to provide some stability to retiree health-care costs.

What do we see happening?
Many UC employees choose to retire after calculating their retirement income. This is necessary because, except for Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), there is no way for retirees to increase their income from the university. So when out-of-pocket health-care costs go up for retirees, this eats into their living expenses. There are already retirees and survivors of retirees who have to choose between health-care costs and food. To suddenly remove the 70% floor exacerbates this problem.

What can you do?
The campus staff assemblies are collecting feedback locally and sharing this up to the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA), who will be coordinating a response to the UC President and/or Board of Regents. We are also working on a list of questions that include queries, such as what OPEB would look like if it grandparented current employees and implemented the changes to future retirees? What does this mean for retention of employees with 10 to 20 years of service?

The most powerful and helpful thing for us now is to hear about your personal concerns and how this impacts you. Would no OPEB mean you are less likely to retire from the UC system and take a job elsewhere for more money now? Will you have to postpone your retirement if, in retirement, you will have to pay a greater portion of your OPEB than you had planned for under the current plan?

Share your questions and stories with us on the UC ANR Staff Assembly website.

What's next?
Fortunately, the July agenda was revised and this item was moved to the November meeting agenda. Moving the item to November will allow for more consultation and discussion. It is unknown what approach the UC Office of the President (OP) will take to solicit feedback and engage in discussion. But as that information becomes available, we will make sure to share it broadly. We are hopeful that CUCSA (and therefore a voice of staff) will be included in the discussions and that OP will convene a task force representing all parties that will be affected by the proposed changes. Stay tuned.

Click here for the original July Regents Meeting Agenda Item (F7), which was then revised to remove the discussion on the 70 percent floor.

The immediate past chair of the systemwide Academic Senate, Jim Chalfant, has already written a letter to the UC President on this issue. You can read it online here: http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/JC-JN-Retiree-Health.pdf.

We can work collectively to inform and educate staff on this important matter. We are stronger together and the more voices that participate, the louder the message will be to those making the decisions that affect all of us.

UC ANR human resources director John Fox also said one important point that isn't addressed in the CUCSA summary is Medicare coverage. “When a UC retiree enrolls in Medicare, the monthly medical premium costs are significantly reduced (both for the retiree and for UC). Much of the future liability that UC is trying to control (and the risk of high monthly costs for the retirees) is during the time between retirement from UC and the start of Medicare eligibility (typically age 65).”

If you would like to share your stories or post a comment on this proposed change, please fill out the form on the UC ANR Staff Assembly website. We will share comments and stories from UC ANR with CUCSA leadership, who will compile it with information from other campuses to share with the UC President and UC Regents.