Public Employee Press

Bloomberg and Cuomo team up:
Pension Attack

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The nationwide attack on public employee pensions has arrived in the Empire State.

In June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a new pension tier to make future city and state employees work longer and contribute more for less retirement benefits. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has been blaming city budget problems on pension costs, jumped on the bandwagon.

Unions that represent state and city workers blasted the plan.

"New York continues to endure high unemployment, a shrinking public sector and a diminished private sector," said state AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes. "Rather than address those real concerns, this legislation would make middle-class workers even more economically insecure, and well into the future."

"The governor and mayor are using the poor economy as an excuse to cut our benefit, which city workers have sacrificed for by accepting smaller pay increases over the years," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "They are following the example of the Republican governors who have put a bull's-eye on the backs of public employees."

Cuomo and Bloomberg claim the state and city can no longer afford to provide new employees the same benefit offered to current workers and retirees.

But DC 37 Pension Chair James Tucciarelli, the president of Local 1320, said they are wrong to pretend the pension system is unsustainable. He cited a recent report by city Comptroller John C. Liu showing that the costs of city pension plans will rise until 2016 and then level off and decline for the long term. (See article NYC Comptoller Liu: What crisis?)

"The Cuomo-Bloomberg plan victimizes workers doubly," DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido said. "First, the 2008 stock market crash jeopardized our retirement security by cutting the value of pension fund investments and 401(k)s. Now they want to force us to foot the bill for the problems produced by bankers and irresponsible investors."

The plan to shrink pensions would raise the retirement age for most city and state employees from 62 to 65. Qualifying for a pension (vesting) would take 12 years instead of 10. City workers would have to contribute 6 percent of their salary - double what most pay now - until they retire instead of finishing contributions after 10 years. The new plan would affect state and city workers hired on or after July 1, 2011.

It was unclear how much support the plan could get in the state Legislature, because Cuomo unveiled it too late for consideration in the session that ended recently.