Posted by Lou on May 28, 2010
There are a couple articles in the Projo that you should be aware of:
Two weeks ago, the budget deficit was deemed to be less than expected.
Yesterday, the House Finance Committee voted to send their budget proposal to the full house by a 13-to-1 margin. This budget proposal includes the previously accepted proposal of cutting state employee pension COLAs to the lesser of the CPI or 3% on first $35,000 on pension benefit.
You know what this means, folks. It means it’s time to contact your representation and explain to them that cutting your pension benefit constitutes a breach of contract and takes money out of the RI economy in the future. Tell them that our pension is not the financial windfall that they and the public think it is. Ask them if pension cuts are so necessary, why are state troopers and legislators exempted from the cuts. Ask them to force all legislators, judges and state troopers to pay 8.75% towards their pension benefit and a 20% co-chare of their health insurance. But most of all, tell them that you refuse to support politicians who refuse to support you.
Posted by Lou on April 25, 2010
The last two weeks have been very informative for state employees on WPRI (Channel 12) Newsmakers. I’ve linked to the episodes below. The first is from April 18, where AFL-CIO President George Nee was on with Rhode Island Statewide Coalition leader Henry Staley to discuss the state budget. The second is from April 25, where current General Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio discusses his suspect pension reform plan. He is followed by candidate for General Treasurer and founder of WhatCheer.net, Tom Sgouros discussing the realities of the current pension system.
Budget discussion show
Pension discussion show
As a way to draw more interaction on our site, any Local 2881 member who watches the videos and comments on them below by Monday, May 3 will be entered into a raffle. The winner gets lunch on me at the Foundry Cafe, or $5 cash, whichever you prefer. This is not a joke! However, please do not watch or comment from a work/state computer. Those entries will be disqualified. Good luck!
May 6 Update: There were no comments, so there was no winner.
Posted by Lou on April 8, 2010
11:57am 4/9 UPDATE: The new version of the bill allows for a 3% or CPI (whichever is less) COLA on the first $35,000 of pension benefits, to begin in the third year of retirement, or age 65, whichever is later. See the new language on page 130: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText10/HouseText10/H7105A.pdf.
See the entire proposal by the House Finance Committee here:
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText10/HouseText10/H7105.pdf.
The pertinent information is on page 97, where the COLA has been proposed to be abolished for state employees who were not eligible for retirement on September 30, 2009. Later sections eliminate the COLA for teachers, justices, and judges also.
Please do everything in your power to tell your representatives that this additional attack on state employees is unconscionable and urge them to vote against the bill if it makes it our of committee!
Posted by Lou on March 11, 2009
This week, the governor released his draft budgets. Below are the links to all of the budget information we could find. Most of it comes from www.budget.ri.gov. There is again the stipulation that would remove COLAs from our pensions for those of us with less than 28 years of service. Also, state employees would not be eligible for retirement until 59 years old, no matter how many years of service they have.
Budget Summary – from Budget Office
DEM Budget FY 2009 & 2010
CRMC Budget FY 2009 & 2010
Budget Proposal at a glance – via Providence Journal
Of course, as we get more information, we will certainly share it with you. But please be sure to contact your legislators and tell them that you are NOT in favor of cuts in your pension benefits!
Posted by Lou on February 4, 2009
In this time of fiscal crisis, the governor is trying to take advantage of union employees by eroding the benefits that we have collectively bargained for. In our efforts to combat this abuse, Council 94 is running a phone bank to call our union brothers and sisters and ask them to contact their state representives and senators and ask them to vote against the governor’s supplemental budget and future attempts to take what is rightfully ours. The phone bank is running the following dates, all from 4:30pm to 7pm.
Wednesday, February 4
Thursday, February 5
Tuesday, February 10
Wednesday, February 11
Thursday, February 12
The full flyer can be seen here: Phone Bank flyer.
Even if you don’t care to volunteer to work on the phone bank, it is imperative that you contact your representative and senators to preserve our pension benefits. To find out who your representation in the General Assembly is, use the following link:
RI Voter Information Center.
Council 94 has provided a script and a list of the representatives to pass along to our members. We have previously passed them out at meetings, but if you don’t have a copy, we have archived it, along with a call script, on the website here:
Call Script.
