. . . And it ain’t pretty. Tell us YOUR story . . . your age . . . years of service . . . retirement plans . . . what would this proposal would mean for YOU!
If you are like most of us, you are confused, rattled and dismayed by what you are hearing about proposed cuts in healthcare benefits for future public sector retirees. We will attempt keep you up to date on developments regarding this proposal and on our response as a unions. We will attempt to do so with as little editorializing as possible. If you would rather have the highly editorial, disgruntled and occasionally profane version, feel free to ask.
Here, in a nutshell, so to speak, is where we are at:
On Dec. 20 a 12-member state Commission to Study Retiree Healthcare and Other Non-Pension Benefits recommended a plan to cut $20-30 billion of what they insisted is $48 billion in underfunding of the state’s retiree health benefits.
Those benefits, you will recall, include payment of 80-percent of your healthcare premium when you retire after the age of 55 with 10 years service – or roughly what most of us get as employees. Here is what the cuts would look like: (“at signing” refers to the signing of the bill, presumably about July 1, 2013 . . . possibly earlier).
| RETIREE HEALTH BENEFITS |
NOW
|
PROPOSED
|
| Minimum Retirement Age for Health Benefits |
55
|
60
|
| Minimum Years of Service for Health Benefits |
10
|
20
|
| Premium Share at 20 years/Age 60 |
20%
|
50%
|
| Premium Share at 23-26 years/Age 60 |
20%
|
40%
|
| Premium Share at 27-29 years/Age 60 |
20%
|
30%
|
| Premium Share at 30 years/Age 60 |
20%
|
20%
|
| Full and Partial Exemptions |
|
|
| Premium Share at 20 years/Age 55 at signing |
|
20%
|
| Premium share at 9 years(within 12 months of vesting)/Age 60 (within 5 yrs of Medicare) at signing |
|
20%
|
| Premium share at 15 years/Age 50 at signing |
|
50%
|
| Premium share at 10 years/Age 55 at signing |
|
50%
|
| Ordinary Disability |
|
20%
|
| Ordinary Disability after 2014/10-20 years |
|
50%
|
| Ordinary Disability after 2014/20+ years |
|
Prorated as above to 30 years
|
Note that the Medicare benchmark could be a moving target if the feds change the eligibility age. You can read the entire commission report here.
SUPPORT – The commission vote was 11-1 in favor with opposition only from the Mass. Municipal Association, which wanted deeper benefit cuts. Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) executive director Ann Wass was vice chair of the commission, and MTA President Paul Toner strongly supports it.
Other supporters include the Gov. Deval Patrick. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald both ran editorials saying the benefit cuts should have been deeper.
On Friday, Jan 25, the MTA board voted by a 3-1 margin to endorse move after hearing both Wass and Toner insist that they had succeeded in heading far more draconian cuts.
OPPOSITION – That MTA vote also came after a strong and reasoned address from PSU’s Tom Goodkind as requested by the PSU Joint Executive Council. Other unions, including the Association of Professional Administrators and the Massachusetts Nurses Association are weighing in against.
Also strong and quick in its opposition was Educators for a Democratic Union (EDU), a progressive caucus of MTA, which issued a statement that read, in part: This is the worst kind of centralized, secretive decision making which turns members off and weakens the union. EDU rejects this backroom deal which sells out our members, weakens public employee unions, and diminishes many state employees’ hopes for retirement security. We call on members and locals to unequivocally and vocally oppose this deal.” EDU’s entire statement can be found here.
On Jan. 23, I took part in conference call with Paul Toner and Ann Wass where they once again insisted that “in could be worse.” I attempted to explain the toll this would take on our members, many whom vulnerable and most of whom expect us to PROTECT them. Toner agreed to come to campus to address a union gathering.
WHAT’S NEXT – A bill based on the commission report has not yet been filed, but is expected to be filed any day. Keep an eye on this space and on news reports.
ALSO, we expect to call a campus-wide all-union meeting in the coming week to launch a strategy to turn this around.
We need to ready to greet Paul Toner, if he follows through on his offer, with a loud and unified voice.
And we need to be ready to engage our legislators with hard data and stories of how this will impact YOU!
– Posted by Wesley Blixt
The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Professional Staff Union, Massachusetts Teachers Association or National Education Association.
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