Public Employee Press

Albany Lobby Day
2,000 members press legislators on pensions
Unions stop 401(k), but new Tier 6 plan will cheat future workers

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Hundreds of DC 37 members were among the 2,000 AFSCME union activists from around the state who traveled to Albany March 6 and urged legislators to close corporate tax loopholes and defeat Gov. Cuomo's Tier 6 pension cuts.

Ten days later, in a harsh blow to public service workers statewide, Cuomo and the lawmakers enacted a modified but still destructive Tier 6 for new workers.

The law will cut pensions, increase workers' payments and raise the minimum retirement age. "But the unions kept the security of a defined-benefit pension and knocked out the governor's 401(k) plan, which threatened all pension tiers by funneling retirement funds to Wall Street," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, "and we managed to keep the contribution rate at 3 percent for low-paid workers, including many DC 37 members." (For more on Tier 6, see next page.)

The March 6 Lobby Day organized by AFSCME protested Cuomo's plan to cut members' lifetime retirement benefits by 40 percent. DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts called the original plan "a sneaky way to privatize the state and city pension systems."

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders led the fightback at the March 6 Lobby Day, which included the six New York affiliates of DC 37's national union, the 1.6 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He charged that "the governor is leading a race to the bottom" in his keynote speech, before members fanned out to meet with legislators. He called Tier 6 "a corporate takeover of the American Dream."

Opposition to the governor's plan came from both Democrats and Republicans, but during the night of March 15, Cuomo made a "megadeal" with Senate and Assembly leaders that included Tier 6 and gave them their way on redistricting and other issues.

Tier 6 hurts working families

Guest speaker New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli addressed the rank-and-file lobbyists, charging that in the long run Tier 6 will hurt working families and the state's economy. "It's a shell game," he said. "They want to move the money and they hope we won't notice. What they need to keep in mind is that civil servants are taxpayers."

DiNapoli praised civil service workers for their hard work and dedication. "Each and every day you serve the people of New York," he said.

Marcelo Puello, a retired School Aide from Local 372, made the early-morning trip from New York City to meet with State Senator Adriano Espaillat and make sure his voice was heard.

"We have to show the politicians that we're serious about organizing our members to fight for our rights," said Puello, who lobbies in Albany every year.