Retirees Cry ‘Foul’ to Proposed Benefit Changes
by Dee-Dee Goidel
Ten members of the Retiree Chapter Legislative Committee spent March 14- 15 in Albany visiting 54 of our elected
officials or their representatives. (Kudos to RC member Pat DeMeo for arranging them!) We began each visit, as we always do, discussing a current education issue because we remain committed to the children in the NYC public schools. Our recent focus is the development of a universal full-day program for three- and four-year-olds.
To that end, CSA supports state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery’s bill, S328, which would require the State Education Department, in consultation with other state agencies, to develop a set of recommendations for a comprehensive educational system for children below the age of five.
We also discussed pensions. Current retirees simply could not absorb changes because through the years we have lost purchasing power due to inflation.
The vast majority of our members retired well before the large salary increases of the past decade. We have 39 retirees who are older than 100, 484 members between the ages of 90 and 100, 2,257 members between the ages of 80 and
90, and 3,172 members between the ages of 70 and 79.
Their pensions have not kept up with the true cost of living. Any change would certainly result in an increased reliance on government programs for food, medication, and utilities.
Legislators from both political parties told us that they believed it was only fair to keep past promises. (Pensions are protected by NYS’s Constitution, and any change would require a change in that document.) They did indicate that they expected to draft a new tier for future employees, but details were unavailable.
In related business, the Bloomberg administration gave the Municipal Labor Committee a proposal for changes to our health plans. Those changes include employee contributions, eliminating reimbursement of Medicare Part B for retirees and requiring 20 years of service to vest in retiree health benefits.
Medicare Part B reimbursements date back to the Lindsay administration; retirees were required to take part in the new Medicare program and the city agreed to reimburse retirees whose health insurance had been covered prior to Medicare’s creation.
Health benefits are collectively bargained by the Municipal Labor Committee, but changes to retiree benefits must go before the City Council.
