The Association of Retired Faculty and Librarians of York University (ARF) believes that both the University and retirees benefit from a close and continuing post-retirement association. We represent the interests of retired faculty and librarians and we are particularly concerned with pensions and post-retirement benefits. These include both medical and dental benefits as well as issues such as post-retirement teaching, supervision of postgraduate students and continued access to research funding.
ARF is associated with the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) who bargains for post-retirement benefits on our behalf. We are also a member of the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC).
ARF keeps in touch with its members via a newsletter as well as this website and email. We also maintain an internet discussion group which members may join and participate in.
If you are a retiree who is not a member of ARF, we urge you to join us so that we can continue to have a strong voice at York in support of the interests of retirees. A membership form is available from the links at the left of this page (aussi disponible en français).
Here is a copy of the flyer we make available to newly retired faculty and librarians
ARFL Flyer page 2
Constitution of the Association
News
CURAC Conference at York
ARFL and YURA are sponsoring the Colleges and Universities Retirees Associations of Canada (CURAC) annual conference in May, 2010 on the main York campus. Members of ARFL are invited to attend this conference. For details see the announcement. If you wish to attend, please print out the Registration Form and complete it.
FGS Review of Appointments and Reappointments
The faculty of Graduate Studies has set up a Task Force to review policies and procedures governing faculty appointments to FGS including the appointment of Senior Scholars The Task Force has issued a Consultation Document and asked for feedback on the issues raised in the document. The ARFL Executive has sent a response . Individual members of ARFL may wish to respond on their own. Please note that the deadline for feedback is Feb. 1, 2010.
Pension Questions
Here are some questions and answers about the current state of the York Pension Plan and how this will effect your present and future pensions.
Click here to open the file.
Home and Auto Insurance
CURAC has arranged special rates for home and auto insurance though Waterloo Insurance. The information is contained in
this letter from CURAC.
Members who are interested can contact Waterloo Insurance directly. The ARFL Executive has no independent information about the company or the competitiveness of its rates and is circulating this letter for information only.
CURAC has also arranged for reduced membership rates for CARP (Canadian Assdociation of Retired Persons). For details click on the following link:
Reduced CARP Membership Rates
PER accounts
Message from Employee Relatons regarding the Personal Expenses Reimbursement (PER) account:
When we send letters to our Senior Scholars notifying them that they will be receiving their last PER allocation in May of a given fiscal year, we indicate in those letters that we allow for 7 months (until December 31st of that year) for the Senior Scholars to submit claims against any accumulated balance in the PER accounts. At that time (December 31st of that year, that is), their PER account is deactivated but the Senior Scholar would still be entitled to other non-cash privileges such as use of computer and secretarial services, access to office space, eligibility for travel/research grants, etc.
If you feel that these procedures have not been followed in the case of your PER account you should contact Alfred Ene for clarification aene@yorku.ca . Please let ARFL know yuarfl@web.net if any problems cannot be resolved satisfactorily.
Retirees were recently notified of new conditions on the use of
PER funds. ARFL considered this new policy to be excessively restrictive
and some members of the ARFL executive met with the Vice-Preseident
Academic, Patrick Monahan, to request
a review of the PER policy. The Vice-President was sympathetic to our
concerns and initiated a review of the new policy. We are pleased to
inform you that the use of PER funds to attend conferences is now the
same as for pre-retirees provided the retiree is a Senior Scholar who
is teaching or is engaged in appropriate scholarly activity. See the
details here.
Another significant change is that the expense reports are now approved by
a Dean or Principal instead of the Vice-President Research. At the moment
PER funds cannot be used for professional dues and membership in learned
societies but Vice-President Monahan has indicated
this matter is still under consideration.
Post-Retirement Health Benefits
Here is some information about post retirement benefits and
alternate providers for retired members. This article appeared
in the September 2007 ARFL Newsletter.
Retireee Health Benefits
News on the 2009 Collective Agreement
Here is our Newsletter article on the benefits to retirees in the new YUFA Collective Agreement.
New benefitsHere is a communication from YUFA regarding the meaning of the term 'Normal Retirement Date' in the new Collective Agreement.
Normal Retirement DateShadow Pension
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has now indicated that it supports the Administration's position on the Shadow Pension. YUFA has appealed the ruling to a FSCO Tribunal. There will be hearings on Feb. 23 - 26, 2010. Here is the article on the FSCO appeal from the latest issue of our newsletter.
2006 Cohort
The grievnace concerning the 2006 Cohort has been settled. Details
Contact us: yuarfl@web.net
( Last updated: 2010 January 23 )