New York public-employee unions are pushing for an utterly obscene giveaway, undoing the 2012 pension reform that saved taxpayers $80 billion — and Gov. Kathy Hochul looks willing to sign off on it.
The unions frame it as a matter of “fairness” when they do the very same thing with their own employees.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo forced the “Tier 6” reform through the Legislature in his early, fiscally responsible years: It cut retirement benefits for workers hired once it became law, requiring them to contribute more to their own still-generous pensions; other reforms have raised the age (again, for new hires) when a retiree can start collecting.
Now the unions want Tier 6 hires to get the same benefits as previous tiers — a retroactive giveaway that would cost New York taxpayers up to $700 million a year.
More outrageous yet, the unions want the state to lower the age — to 55 or after 20 years of service — when public sector workers can retire and immediately collect the full pension.
Tier 6 benefits are still far more generous than most private sector plans; indeed, most of us don’t get guaranteed (defined-benefits) pensions anymore, just some employer contributions to 401(k)-style retirement savings accounts.
The ultimate test: Hiring hasn’t been any problem since Tier 6 kicked in, though the unions of course pretend otherwise — it’s not greed, you’re supposed to believe; they’re being public-spirited.
Hilariously, as the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin points out, some of the unions demanding “tier equity” don’t offer “tier equity” to their own employees: New York State United Teachers, for one, has three “unfair” tiers.
Hochul has not explicitly, publicly signed on to this larceny, only spoken kind words about the “fairness” campaign.
Sadly, her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, hasn’t spoken out against it. (And several GOP legislators have outright cheered the scheme.)
We asked his campaign on Thursday, and got only a bland dodge:
“Tier 6 is a complicated issue that should be part of the collective bargaining process. I have had four years of labor peace without raising taxes. As governor, I will strike the same balance between fair wages and benefits for our workers and protecting our taxpayers.”
Sad.
We hope he takes a principled stand before Hochul decides it’s safe to go along with the scam.
This fall is surely Hochul’s last election; she’ll pay no personal price for selling out New York’s taxpayers (again).
At least, not unless Republicans — or any fiscally responsible Democrats that might still be hiding in some dark corner of the state — call out “Tier 6 Equity” for the highway robbery it is.
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