Feb. 3, 2003

Contact: Lynn Bretz, University Relations, (785) 864-8866.

Members of KU classified employee senate to meet with legislators Tuesday

LAWRENCE -- Representatives of the nearly 5,000 state classified employees at the six Kansas Board of Regents universities will meet with legislators Tuesday to focus attention on salary, benefits and retirement issues.

About 10 members of the University of Kansas Classified Senate will be at the Capitol. KU Classified Senate represents approximately 1,600 classified employees on the Lawrence campus.

The employees will distribute a Kansas Council of Classified Senate position paper, available for download at www.ku.edu/~clsenate.

The paper lists the employees' top interests this legislative session, including:

Salary
 • adjust pay matrix annually so lowest pay rate is above most current Federal Poverty Salary Guideline for a family of four
 • fund pay matrix step increases
 • fully fund longevity pay at the current rate and remove $1,000 cap
 • establish standing guidelines to keep classified employees' salaries equitable with private sector

Benefits
 • fund any increase in health insurance premiums by an offset of appropriated dollars to regents universities
 • increase sick leave earned per pay period from 3.7 to 4.2 hours
 • subsidize health insurance premiums for retirees with 85 points, specifically those who choose to retire before they are eligible for federal assistance

Retirement
 • reduce KPERS vesting period to five years
 • close the unfounded retirement liability gap in KPERS

Other regents institution groups plan to make trips to the Capitol to speak with legislators.

On Feb. 11, a delegation of about 30 student leaders from the six regents universities will spend the day in Topeka, meeting with members of the Legislature on a variety of higher education issues.

On Feb. 25, members of the Unclassified Professional Staff Association Executive Board and other unclassified staff also will visit legislators at the Capitol.

In addition, the boards of the Kansas Alumni Association and the Kansas State University Alumni Association will meet jointly in Manhattan for the first time Feb. 8 to discuss legislative issues. One outcome of this historic meeting is expected to be a resolution addressed to legislators, expressing broad alumni support for the state's regents universities.