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Legislation
Update – Albany
The first time I headed onto the
New York State Thruway for the ride to Albany as your
legislative representative was 10 years ago.
Back in 2002 we approached each session with
plans on how to improve our benefits from the previous
year. How quickly times change!
In recent years, with the unjustified onslaught
against pubic employee compensation, we find ourselves
concentrating on retaining what we have and preventing
any erosion to existing benefits.
This year will be no exception as the Governor
opened the session with his State of the State address,
in which he declared his intention to drastically change
the retirement system as we know it.
It was only two years ago that we were faced with
the establishment of the Tier V pension plan for all
state employees. When
originally introduced it was devastating.
However, we were able to negotiate many changes
that softened the blow.
While Tier V saw the establishment for the first
time of a contributory plan for the Police and Fire
System, we were able to maintain most of the other
benefits from Tier II.
Tier VI is much worse.
To give you an idea of how drastic a change the
Governor is proposing consider these provisions of the
new plan:
1)
Final average salary based
on your last 5 years (from current 3 years)
2)
No overtime included in FAS
3)
Introduction of a 401K
style plan as an option for state employees (Police and
Fire would have no disability or line of duty death
benefits under a 401K plan)
4)
Employee contribution rate
of between 4% and 6%, however if the employer rate goes
over 14% of salary (as it is now) the employee must make
up half the difference with no cap
5)
Take out the minimum
contribution rate of 4.5% for employers (not having this
in place in the past is the reason their rate is so high
now – so much for learning from past mistakes)
6)
Increase by-back for
military service from 3% to 6% of salary
7)
Surprisingly the 20 year
plan for Police and Fire was kept, we were fully
expecting a 25 year plan to be proposed.
I guess with all the above cuts there was no need
for further savings.
8)
Cap on all pensions of
$179,000 (the Governor’s salary).
Is this a plan to boost his salary or an ego
thing, as the Governor’s salary hasn’t been raised
in over 10 years? So
maybe this is only a negotiating tactic, I hope so!
I guess it is another way to get at all those
school superintendent salaries he often complains about
because as stated below this is well above the average
P&F pension in this state.
Sound like something you would
like to trade your pension in for?
I think not.
But unfortunately the business community and the
media will not be happy until they entirely gut your
pension plan. They
ignore the fact that the average NYS employee pension is
$19,000 a year, with the average Police/Fire pension at
$39,000 a year. The
simple truth is this, 30 years ago 84% of US workers at
medium to large US companies received a defined benefit
pension the same as we do, yet today that figure is only
30%. The
rest of the world now relies on 401K style plans,
something that were originally started as savings plans
to supplement a pension.
They were never designed to replace a pension but
business leaders soon found out they could save millions
by replacing their employees’ plan with a 401K, and
the money they save could go into their pocket.
So here we are in 2012, and most of the public
took a bath with their plans in the recent economic
downturn. Business
leaders now point to public sector worker’s pensions
and insinuate that these expenses are what are ruining
the economy. After
all, if they get us to accept a 401K plan then their own
employees will stop asking them for a defined benefit
plan. Unfortunately many politicians are jumping on the
bandwagon because of a slanted publicity campaign by
business/media groups that is attempting to sway public
opinion against us.
As one example of this the “Committee to Save
New York”, a group of very rich businessmen (you know,
the ones who pay 14% in income taxes), have spent a
record $14 million on lobbying and advertising this year
to help promote the Governor’s agenda which they hope
will eventually put more money in their pockets as
opposed to yours, not to mention the huge fees that are
generated by 401K plans for the investment groups.
We have our work cut out for us and will strive
to keep our benefits intact so as to not
ruin this job for future generations.
The people that came before us helped make this
job as good as it is today, I believe it is our duty to
continue the fight.
The Governor's decision to put the
above Tier VI proposal into the budget was intentionally
done to force Legislators to deal with this issue before
the April 1st budget deadline.
That, unfortunately, does not give us much time.
We have meetings set up next week with the
Governor’s counsel to go over key provisions of the
bill. We
have already started to meet with Legislative leaders to
voice our opposition; hopefully we will be able to make
some headway to minimize the damage.
We also have our full agenda of
bills that we propose every year as well as some new
issues we will address.
Listed below are some of the newer bills that I
have not mentioned before.
They will cover the following topics:
1)
A bill to grandfather in
members who received a permanent partial disability
status from Worker’s Comp before December of 2010, and
now are being denied chiropractic or physical therapy
treatment as originally guaranteed due to recent rule
changes.
2)
A bill to provide a ¾
disability pension for members on active military duty
who are wounded and unable to return to work (we
previously passed a bill for members killed in action
that gave them the same death benefits as if they
suffered a LOD death, but as of now there is no
provision for a ¾ disability pension).
3)
A bill to protect police
officers from harassment on the Internet for actions
taken in connection with their official duties.
4)
A bill to prevent an
Internet data base from publishing names and addresses
of police officers in regards to salary or pistol
permits.
5)
A bill to mandate the
issuance of a pistol permit to a retired police officer
without unnecessary delay, which seems to be a problem
in some upstate communities by local sheriff’s
offices.
State
of the County
What is new with the County?
Well, to put it briefly, as of this writing
nothing is new. I
know the PBA has been having constant discussions with
them in order to see if there is any room for compromise
in settling this pay freeze dispute but so far nothing
has happened. By
the time you read this article that might have all
changed but it doesn’t look overly promising.
But you can never tell, perhaps NIFA and the
County will come to their senses and work something out
but it seems like we might be just waiting for the
outcome of our lawsuit.
I think our position closely parallels the
PBA’s so we will have to see if they make any
progress.
As
always, any questions on any of the above items please
call me at the office or email me at nassoa@aol.com
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Election
Endorsements and Union Rally
First I would like to thank all of our members, both
active and retired, who showed up at the recent labor
rally to protest the introduction of the “Nassau
County Fiscal Crisis Reform Act”.
The mere thought of this law is so egregious to
all union members that people from all over the state
showed up to demonstrate their opposition.
I want to thank our brothers and sisters in the
union movement (fire, corrections, teachers, and CSEA)
for their attendance, especially the police unions that
showed up from NYPD, Suffolk PD, NYS Troopers, Port
Authority PD, MTA PD, as well various village, city, and
town departments from Nassau and Suffolk.
It was heartwarming to see the support we
received and are very happy that we can count on over
one million public sector employees throughout the state
to support us in this battle with our County Executive.
Moving on to the upcoming election, I am sure that
you have all received by now our PEC newsletter in the
mail with our recommendations for the County Legislature
and other local races.
These selections are repeated here in this issue
of the Gold Shield along with those of the Suffolk SOA
for our members residing out east.
We hope that you will consider our choices and
vote on Nov. 8th.
I imagine the one glaring difference in our
endorsements from prior elections is the fact that we
were unable to endorse any of the Republican Legislators
running except for one.
The reason was quite simple; it was the issue of
police layoffs and the Fiscal Crisis Reform Act.
We could not bring ourselves to endorse anyone
who would even consider layoffs at the present time, nor
anyone who would vote for unconstitutional laws.
The simple fact regarding layoffs is this: the
NCPD, during the mid 1970’s, hit our highest staffing
levels when we employed approximately 3900 sworn
members. Our head count today stands at 2390!
This department has been cut nearly in half
because of budget constraints.
When does the Legislature admit that we are at
our lowest possible staffing level?
Any police officer on this job can answer that
question; we are there now!
Only the Democratic candidates and one
Republican, Joe Belesi, stood up for what was right and
told us that they would not lay off police officers at
these staffing levels.
So what other options has the County Executive put
forward? Top
on the list is the “Fiscal Crisis Reform Act”, a law
to give the County Executive the power to throw out
contacts when he declares a fiscal crisis. The mere
suggestion of this was enough to bring thousands of
demonstrators from all over the state to the front lawn
of the County Legislative Building last week.
If the County Executive truly believes that this
bill is constitutional he should get it passed so we can
start the battle. The
end result will be the waste of more taxpayer dollars on
lawsuits, as he did with the re-districting lawsuit and
the Coliseum election.
Unfortunately his other suggestions include
closing precincts, laying off CSEA workers, and selling
County property. These
options will only result in the public receiving fewer
services than they do now.
People hate high taxes, but tax them without
delivering good services and they are really going to be
upset.
Many of the Republican candidates were friends
whom we had supported in the past, and it was a
difficult decision to go against them now.
However, it is the leaders of their delegation
putting forth these options and when they don’t stand
up to disagree with them we have to assume that they
agree with this nonsense.
Solidarity is great; just make sure the people
you are following know what they are doing!
The mantra of the Republican Party nationwide has
seemed to evolve into “the fiscal crisis is all the
public employees’ fault”, while discounting all
other government spending.
We had hoped the Nassau Republicans were above
this but, led by the County Executive, this appears to
be their position. Sooner
or later I believe that the Republicans will realize
that they are turning off many blue-collar workers who
had supported them in the past.
To me the most extreme example of this is that
the Republicans, who always touted themselves as the law
and order party, would be willing to rip up contracts
that were legally negotiated.
What happened to abiding by the law of the land?
It is very disappointing to me that someone would
throw out their core beliefs in order to save their job.
The one thing I admire about the Democrats is
that they are not afraid to buck their own party if they
do not believe in the message.
Maybe this is something that the Republicans need
to learn. All
this being said we have told the County Executive, time
and time again, that we were willing to work with him to
get them through the rough times.
But we are unwilling to be the only solution to a
problem that we did not create, and when he finally
becomes reasonable we are more than willing to listen.
Unfortunately, as the rhetoric heats up, it will
become more difficult than ever to come to terms.
It took years with our last County Executive, who
used the same tactic of negotiating contracts in the
press, to realize this does not work.
Maybe we need to tone down those press releases
Ed!
Please review our endorsements and we ask you and
your family members to seriously consider our choices
and vote on Election Day.
This is one election that you cannot afford to
sit out!
Legislation Update - Albany
Here is a quick update for you on our bills
that were passed during the 2011 session that I had no
disposition for in the last Gold Shield report.
Of the ten major pieces sent to the Governor’s
desk we managed to get nine signed into law, an outcome
that we were obviously very pleased with.
In addition to the four reported signed in my
last report here are the results:
1) S5651/A7834
Retirement notice 30-15 days – Changes the
minimum filing time required to submit your retirement
papers to the state from 30 days to 15 – signed by
Governor on 8/3/11 Chapter 375
2) S5653/A5744A
NYPD 20 year guarantee – Guarantees NYPD
members their pension after 20 years except for felony
conviction for crimes related to their employment –
signed by Governor on 9/23/11 Chapter 514 – big win
for the NYPD members.
3) S5658/A8456A
Black Powder Bill – adds black powder firearms
to the list of firearms prohibited for possession by
felons (the NY State Police have had two Troopers
recently killed
by felons armed with black powder rifles) –
signed by Governor on 8/3/11 Chapter 357
4) S5234A/A7751A
Califano memorial bridge – names the L.I.E.
overpass near the site of P.O. Michael Califano’s
death in his name – signed by Governor on 8/3/11
Chapter 312
5) S5837/A7605A
Tier V pre tax contributions – changes
contributions by Tier V members to pre-tax dollars, they
are currently deducted post tax.
This change gives them equity with all other
pension plans that require contributions – signed by
Governor on 9/23/11 Chapter 525
6) S5098/ A4954
Civil service health insurance guarantee -
guarantees your health insurance when out on a line of
duty injury – Vetoed by the Governor, veto message 60.
This was our one major disappointment.
We will continue to work on this bill next year.
As always, any questions on any
of the above items please call me at the office or email
me at nassoa@aol.com
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