Sunday, September 25, 2011

The "Pension Truth Squad"

Do they address the "unsustainability" of the current model? I doubt it would fit the narrative, but it's an important part of the discussion, don't you think?
With attacks against public pensions escalating, a cadre of retired CTA members is joining forces with Pension Truth Squads that have been barnstorming the state.

Retired teachers in San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Chico, San Luis Obispo, Riverside and Palm Springs have shared their stories and brought the truth to the public about their retirement plans. They are not alone in fighting back. They join a coalition of retired school employees, firefighters, police and other public employees who are out to set the record straight on public employee retirement.

They are making it known that their pensions are modest — not the six-figure incomes that those who would undo the public employee pension system suggest.

“We would like to dispel some of the myths about public employee pensions,” said Alen Ritchie, a retired Redlands music teacher, who spoke at an event in Riverside in May. “Teachers do not go into the profession for money, but we do deserve a livable retirement.”
I love the "editor's note" at the end of the article:
EDITOR’S NOTE: At press time, Secretary of State Deborah Bowen gave the go-ahead for signature-gathering to begin on three antiunion initiatives. One would increase the retirement age for public employees to 65, one would increase the income tax on pensions in excess of $100,000 to 15 percent and higher, and another would eliminate bargaining rights for public employee unions altogether.
1. How is increasing the retirement age for public employees "anti-union"?
2. Don't liberals believe that "the rich", perhaps those making 100K or more, should pay more? And doesn't mentioning a 100K pension undercut the article, which discusses "modest" pensions and "liveable" retirement income?

Maybe this lack of logic in CTA articles comes from a dearth of math and science knowledge :-) (see this post from a few minutes ago to be in on the joke)

4 comments:

EdD said...

I was teaching in California in the mid seventies when then Governor Brown signed legislation extending collective bargaining rights to teachers. Will the same Governor Brown in his present incarnation be forced to approve legislation doing away with those rights? Stay tuned.

Darren said...

I wouldn't place any bets on it.

Jenny said...

I have a blog post about how teacher compensation in CA is even more messed up than you know. I taught in CA for six years and was forced to pay into STRS. Now that I live out of state, if I get a teaching job I'll pay into our state pension plus Social Security. You can't get both Social Security and STRS. So basically, those 6 years of CA pension is completely lost to me. I wish I could have been paying into Social Security instead. What a rip off!


http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/03/04/teacher-compensation-is-more-messed-up-than-you-know/

Darren said...

It's not more messed up than *I* know. All those years I paid into social security are essentially lost to me because of the Windfall Elimination Provision.