Yale Unions Retirees Association

In the last contract, members of Locals 34 and 35 won extraordinary pension increases, making Yale a leader in providing good, secure pensions for their retirees. Yet many members of the Yale family were left behind. For the nearly 1200 surviving workers who retired before the last contract settlement, the need for decent pensions remains.

On the eve of the 2003 strike, nine members of the Yale Unions Retirees Association went to the Yale Investments Office to get a meeting with the Chief Investments Officer, David Swenson, to see what could be done about their meager pensions.

When refused a meeting, nine retirees decided to occupy that office until they got one. Five of them ended up spending the night there, joined by clergy, labor leaders--and even Rev. Jesse Jackson--before being escorted out by security the next day. Within 24 hours, reporters from all around the country had come to Yale to tell the story of these retirees’ stand and why workers at Yale needed better pensions.

Three weeks later, Yale settled its contracts with Locals 34 and 35, which included provisions that would nearly double the pensions for workers covered under the new contract. At that time, Yale refused to renegotiate the existing retirees’ pensions, but announced that they would voluntarily increase their pensions in the future. Since then, the University has increased their pensions by a couple of percentage points, but many of these retirees still live in poverty. Ironically, the very members of the Yale family who were responsible for securing the pension victory of our last contract, were the ones left behind.

These individuals -- the elders of the Yale family -- now are living out their remaining years on pensions that average $582 a month, a poverty wage by any measure. These retirees are mostly women, who, in many cases, are already the most financially vulnerable members of our community.

Now, it is time to come together -- workers, students, faculty, clergy and community members -- to find a way to make sure that every worker who retires from Yale after decades of dedicated service can enjoy financial security.

Our Unfinished Business

Since 1997, the Yale Unions Retirees Assocation (YURA) has been working to protect and expand our pension benefits from Yale University, while acting as a watchdog over Social Security, Medicare and other legislation affecting senior citizens.

After meeting with Yale’s Vice Presidents at least seven times, we have had limited success in getting the University to live up to its 1984 verbal agreement to periodically review pensions. Our efforts have resulted in some increase in pension payments to those who retired prior to 1995, but we have more to do. Workers who will retire under the terms of the new contract will enjoy dramatically improved pensions. These new benefits, unfortunately, will not apply to existing retirees and will create a 35% difference between new pensions and old.

Correcting this inequity is part of our unfinished business as a community of workers at Yale University. The Executive Board and the Officers of Local 34 are now working jointly with the Yale Unions Retirees Association and the rest of the Federation of University Employees to close this gap. We hope that you will join us in our ongoing efforts to achieve retirement with respect for all of us.

--Doris Rogan, President
Yale Unions Retirees Association and Former Local 34 Member