As the current agreement with the university does not expire until 2012, the Salary and Benefits Committee has not been especially active in the past year. The committee has met three times during this period to consider whether there are any matters that we should be reviewing in advance of beginning our negotiations. One item that was reviewed was whether there might be any value in considering a change to the benefits plan to a 'flexible benefits' plan. As this potentially could be handled as a 'zero' cost item, it would not have to be tied to a provincially mandated increase for public workers.
However, after researching plans with providers, the committee determined that while the flexibility offered to members to choose different options had some appeal, the overall cost structure was likely to undermine the overall coverage provided over time.
At the last meeting, the matter of pension benefits was naturally on everyone's mind. Pension negotiations are a separate item from our regular agreement negotiations, so the committee determined that we should not also consider this matter to be part of the upcoming negotiations for any agreement. We have heard that the government is going to require another agreement with zero-zero increases for public workers. This leaves us with very little opportunity or room for negotiation.
The committee believes that in this climate we should be calling on expert advice in labour relations to assist us in coming up with a reasonable but strong position in support of our members. We are currently reviewing a number of qualified individuals for this consulting role. As in other negotiations, the committee will also seek the input of members as it reviews options and opportunities leading up to the negotiations.