Presentation to the VCCCD Board of Trustees
November 12, 2019
Members of the Board of Trustees, and Vice Chancellor El Fattal.
I’m Rene Rodriguez, President of the college district Retirees’ Association. I retired from this District 15 years ago, and served as faculty member and a manager in various capacities for 34 years.
Your declaring an impasse last week with the AFT came as a surprise to us, and we are wondering where that leaves the retirees. We were under the impression that we would be given the time to adequately review the District’s CalPERS proposal, having just received the voluminous materials we requested from the District less than 7 weeks ago.
We have made considerable progress in reviewing the CalPERS health plans, but it will take a few more weeks to complete our review.
We will then want to meet with the District and Burnham and CalPERS representatives to share our findings, and to ask them questions about the differences that we have found between the CalPERS plans and the Anthem/BX plans, to make sure that our findings are accurate.
After which, we will then want to share our findings with the retirees themselves, and give them a chance to ask questions and understand the differences between what the District is proposing and the current Anthem/BX plans. Only then, we believe, can the retirees as a whole, and its leadership, make an informed decision regarding the District’s CalPERS proposal.
To date, we have found it troubling that the District’s proposal includes an HRA, “to make retirees whole,” and even then, the HRA will not cover all benefit exclusions, and it will only last three years. Meanwhile, we are expected to give up the promise of quality lifetime healthcare benefits, a promise that is spelled out in contractual and settlement agreement language.
I’ll leave you with this final thought.
As you express your concern for active employees and their futures, I hope that concern equally includes retirees.
Please remember that most of our retirees are faculty, faculty that have made positive impact upon thousands of students over the course of their careers within the three colleges. These students, who are now responsible community members, will want to know that this Board is treating their retired faculty fairly, and with the respect they deserve.
Thank you.
Rene Rodriguez
