Bob Samuels Appointed to UCRP Investment Advisory Group

UC Regents Appoint Union Leader to UCRP Advisory Group 

UC-AFT President vows to push investment strategies that will provide long-term 

stability to the University of California pension plan 

The Regents of the University of California have for the first time ever appointed a 

union leader to the Investment Advisory Group of the UC Retirement Program. 

Bob Samuels, the president of the union of lecturers and librarians at UC, which has 

about 4500 members, has said that he believes in the long-term sustainability of 

pensions, and will work to promote investment strategies that will ensure secure 

retirements of all UC employees.  

The University of California Union Coalition, which supported Samuels’ appointment, 

has been working to reform the composition of the UCRP advisory group for several 

years.  One of the key demands of the coalition was to have a union representative 

appointed to the group. Samuels’ appointment is seen by many to be step in the right 

direction for the UC Regents, who recently voted to raise the retirement age for UC 

workers hired after 2013.  

Samuels was appointed to a one-year position on the Investment Advisory Group at the 

Regent’s meeting on Thursday March 17 in San Francisco. The appointment will begin 

April 1, 2011 and expire March 31, 2012.