Minutes of the May 1, 2004 Retirement Committee meeting

Members Present: Bev Mantle, Bob Coble, Ria Denbow, Diana Sharp, Marjorie Stern, Howard Lowe, Dolores Sanchez

Reporter: Bob Coble

Topics Discussed
Retirement Committee Budget; Retiree Survey; Legislative Report; Pension Protection Coalition.

Action Taken
The CFT Retirement Committee recommends that it be able to send representatives to the CFT Convention and to the CFT Lobby Days, out of its budget.

The committee decided that it should be able to use its budget to work with the CCC, CCE and EC/K-12 councils of the CFT to send representatives to the PERS and STRS board meetings.

The Retirement Committee also requests that the CFT join the Pension Protection Coalition.

Future Plans
If the CFT Executive Board approves the recommendations listed in the "Action" part of this report, the Retirement Committee plans to send a representative to the 2005 CFT Convention, the 2005 Lobby Days, and will attempt to coordinate with the CCC, CCE and EC/K-12 Councils to be sure that CFT is represented at the PERS and STRS board meetings.

The committee will continue to work on a proposed CFT Retirement Booklet, using the earlier Berkely booklet as the base from which to work.

Other Discussion: The committee received from Legislative Representative Dolores Sanchez a packet of materials containing the legislative "Facts at a Glance," the JOURNAL, and news articles.

There was discussion about the Sacramento Bee article on the EEOC ruling reducing retiree benefits. Dolores outlined some of the pension take-backs Governor Schwarzenneger wants to implement.

There is a public-employee pension protection coalition that has been formed to fight the Schwarzenegger plans. All the unions in the Pension Protection Coalition have made a contribution of $10,000 to enable the coalition to function. CFT is not currently in the coalition, but the committee was unanimous in deciding to recommend to the CFT Exec Board that CFT join the coalition.