Chair Talk
January 2011
I have been notified that Susan Kant has left her position as Director of Employee Benefits effective 12/29/2010. Lauri Schmidt has been appointed as Acting Director of Employee Benefits.
Janine Winters (Deputy Director of Civil Service) has been appointed as Director of the Office of the State Employer. Jan has been an integral part of SERA’s relationship with Civil Service/Employee Benefits in the past few years. I look forward to working with Jan in her new position as OSE Director.
I have been asked to enquire of all SERA Chapters as to the number of active state employees that are members of SERA. If Chapter Presidents could give me the number of active employees that belong to their chapter I would appreciate it.
The State of Michigan is facing a 1.8 billion dollar budget shortfall in the coming year. The economic picture in Michigan is bleak and I am expecting that State Employees/Retirees will be facing cuts and benefit reductions in the coming months. I am certain that State Employee Unions will be approached by the new administration to discuss concessions. State employees/retirees aren’t the only groups facing these reductions — most public employees all over the state (nation) are facing the same situation. I expect that SERA leaders will be asked to discuss any changes/reductions that may be a subject facing state retirees. Our input/ideas have been discussed and considered in the past and I expect we will have that same input when the issues arise.
Editor’s note: Bob Kopasz is Chair of the Michigan SERA Council. He may be reached at P.O. Box 692, Mt. Morris, MI 48458; phone 810/240-8380.