Report Back: Golden handshake discussions

You’ve probably heard rumors that administration is planning to offer some sort of retirement incentive, or “golden handshake,” to encourage long-time tenured faculty to retire. Any plan they offer must be negotiated with AFT 2121. We met with administration about it last week. At this point, we have more questions than answers.

Our numbers of overall faculty and of full-timers are already dropping dramatically. We currently have only 594 full-time faculty, down from a high of 823 in 2011. It’s hard to imagine what CCSF would look like if we lost 100 full-timers. Admin has said nothing so far about their plans to replace faculty who retire, beyond the idea that all hiring should go through the normal CCSF hiring processes.

We want to explore all options that would benefit our members who are near retirement. But we’re also concerned that early retirement could further downsize the faculty and the college. We will need to learn more about admin’s intentions to hire replacement faculty.

Here is what we’ve heard in discussions so far. Please keep in mind that these are only preliminary ideas, and all of this could change. 

• Administration is considering offering incentives for faculty to retire June 2017 and December 2017.
• Admin has floated the idea of offering it to faculty aged 55 and over, who have worked at least 5 years at CCSF.
• They have also floated the idea of limiting this deal to 100 people.
• The plan would be offered to full-timers only. We do not know if that would include full-time categorical faculty.
• Admin is considering Keenan Associates, a private company, to develop and manage the plan.
• Keenan Associates presented a sample plan which paid 65% of one year’s base salary. Retirees would be able to choose a time-frame to receive the money. Keenan’s plans are very flexible, with a lot of options for faculty.
• Keenan Associates would provide education and financial planning workshops with our members, to help people decide whether to pursue early retirement and which option to choose.
• There is also an option available through CalSTRS, which involves the District buying two years of service credit rather than replacing salary. If we do pursue an early retirement plan, we will need to assess whether the Keenan plan or the CalSTRS plan is more beneficial.
• Keenan Associates has committed to calculating some possible budget scenarios. They will get back to us with estimates of how much CCSF could save under different hiring and replacement plans.