BREAKING:
Chicago’s pension funds for city workers,
police officers and firefighters are about $19.5
billion short of what’s needed to meet its
current obligations.
http://www.sj-r.com/article/20131209/NEWS/131209556
************
10 most threatened state pension plans - Slide Show - MarketWatch
Illinois Ranks #1; Connecticut
Ranks #2
Connecticut’s funded ratio is
25%, assets are $25.5 billion, liabilities are $102.2 billion, and the unfunded
liability is $76.7 billion.
Also of note, Connecticut had the 4th largest unfunded
liability on a per-person basis. It was $21,378.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-most-threatened-state-pension-plans-2013-09-13
************
In June we learned Connecticut Unions won a
court case which cost $1 Million In Lawyers' Bills To Taxpayers For State's
Defeat In Court ... . Today we learned Jepsen Won't Appeal Union Victory In Layoff Case . Per the Hartford Courant, “Jepsen wouldn't estimate how much the state might have to
pay. “But, with 2,800 workers laid off, and perhaps other state employees
affected by Rowland's action, it appears the damages
could potentially run into millions of dollars or higher.” http://articles.courant.com/2013-12-09/news/hc-jepsen-sebac-1210-20131209_1_sebac-rowland-u-s-supreme-court
************
Blames Public Unions For Detroit's Woes -
Courant.com.
Flo Stahl, President of the Avon Taxpayers
Association and FCTO Member writes: Detroit is like a "Ghost of Municipal Mistakes Past,
Present and Future" [Dec. 4, news, "Detroit Ruled Eligible For
Bankruptcy Protection"]. The result of compensation largesse enforced by
statutes and union pressure, this "Ghost" will come back to haunt
every town in Connecticut.
http://articles.courant.com/2013-12-05/news/hcrs-17798--20131204_1_ghost-public-employees-avon-taxpayers-association
************
December 10, 2013
From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone:
860-841-8032
Connecticut Taxpayers!
Our Ship of State is Sinking!
Dragged Down by Heavy
Debt; Excessive State
Spending; the Payment of 9% Wage Increases to State Employee Unions Over Three
Years Under a No-Layoff, Legally Binding, Job Guarantee Contract; and Betting
Millions of State Taxpayer “Bonded” Dollars on a Speculative “First Five” Jobs
Creation Program!
Translation: Increased Property Taxes in
2014!
Solutions: Enforce the State’s Spending Cap, Freeze State Bonding,
End or Dramatically Reform
State Mandates!
To Include Collective
Bargaining, Binding Arbitration, and Prevailing Wage Laws!
Connecticut Pays Pensions as High as $276,000!!!!
In Calendar Year, the State of Connecticut paid 44,216 Retirees pensions totaling
$1.4 BILLION!!! The following link illustrates those who received from
$50,000 to the highest pension at $276,364.
Click to View…… http://www.ctact.org\upload\home\StatePensionFinalFinal.xls
To learn more about State of CT Employee Pensions
click http://transparency.ct.gov/html/searchPensions.asp.
Malloy
legislative appointees get big pension boost
******************
Connecticut’s Office of
Legislative Research in a headlined report captioned
comparison of connecticut's state
employee collective bargaining
notes: Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island law
explicitly prohibits state employee retirement benefits from collective
bargaining.
******************
Could Wisconsin’s
Success be Realized in Connecticut?
Wisconsin
Collective Bargaining Reforms Do Not Violate Workers ...
Constitutional Rights: Judge
Connecticut Taxpayers:
Join the Federation in asking Governor Malloy and the State Legislature
to Reform State
Mandates governing Collect Bargaining and Binding Arbitration which are, in turn, resulting in State and Local taxpayers
being forced to fund unsustainable public employee wages, pensions and
healthcare costs.
Recognizing that on a local level approximately 80% to 90%
of property taxes are dedicated to personnel related expenses, the Federation
proposes….
Ø
The practice of negotiating and formulating union contracts
behind closed doors, disallowing public input, and then submitting the bill for
payment to State and local taxpayers should end. Instead, the negotiations
for all public sector union contracts should be removed from the closed doors
of secrecy and brought into the light of public debate.
Ø
The practice of taxpayers paying to manage and collect
union dues from Town and Board of Education employees and then remitting these
dues to their respective unions should end. The dues should instead be paid by union
members to their respective unions.
Ø Wage increases
should be earned and awarded based on merit.
As such, the practice of across the board wage increases for all union
members should cease.
Ø Public sector jobs
should no longer be “owned” by the unions but instead, when available, offered
to the public at large.
Ø Union stewardss should be prohibited from conducting union
business while on the taxpayers’ clock.
Ø If voters
determine, by a collection of a predetermined number of signatures, that a
union contract when approved by a local legislative body is unreasonable in
terms and/or costs, they should have the ability to bring the contract to a
public referendum.
In summary, with personnel related costs having the greatest
impact on State and municipal budgets, taxpayers, who are the primary funding
source of public sector union contracts,
can no longer afford to sit idle while “arbiters” and elected public
officials control the process by which union contracts are formulated,
approved, and facilitated for which we ultimately receive the bill!
We only need to turn our
attention to Detroit and now Chicago to understand why reforms to Connecticut’s
Collective Bargaining Laws are necessary and applaud Flo Stahl, President of
the Avon Taxpayers Association and FCTO member
who wrote the following op ed which appeared
in the Hartford Courant on December 4, 2013 and can be accessed at
Flo’s article
also appears below in its entirety
In Flo’s words
Dear Editor:
Detroit is “The Ghost
of Municipal Mistakes Past, Present and Future.” (Detroit Ruled Eligible for Bankruptcy
Protection, Dec. 4). The result of decades of compensation largesse enforced by
legislative statutes and union pressure, this “Ghost” will come back to haunt
every city and town in Connecticut, in the U.S., and as we
now know, many parts of the world.
Let’s be clear about the difference
between public and private unions – a distinction that is purposefully made
murky by those wanting to gain spillover sympathy. The Teamsters, the United
Auto Workers, and the International Ladies Garment Workers, let alone those
agitating for a decent minimum wage, have little in common with their public
union “brothers and sisters,” especially
those making six figure incomes. Liberated from private sector profit and
loss constraints, these employees receive generous benefits and lifelong
pensions supported perpetually by public tax revenue.
Every municipality wants happy,
well-paid employees. After all, service matters. But as tax revenues are
increasingly overwhelmed by compensation agreements, this consideration is
occurring at the expense of other municipal commitments that are prolonged,
postponed or just plain abandoned. Adjustments in co-pays, sick days, or other
marginal components, while giving negotiators political cover when aggregated
and projected over decades, sound wonderful but mean little when it comes to
the cumulative effect of mill rate increases. And general wage increases that
appear small often obscure built-in escalations and perks that far exceed
fiscal caution
Public unions have come a long way
since their “Tiny Tim” days and municipal decision-makers can’t hide from this “Ghost”
indefinitely. Together they must stop killing the goose that lays those golden
eggs.
Florence
Stahl, President
Avon Taxpayers Association
Bravo to Flo Stahl! No one could have said it better!!!
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