Topic: Retirement Security
Retired unionists go digital during the pandemic
Seniors getting comfortable online and learning new organizing tricks
It is 12 noon on Friday and the California Alliance of Retired Americans is ready to Zoom. Scores of CARA members from San Diego to San Francisco are gathered around home computers, ready for the next best thing to an in-person meeting.
Tips for seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic
How one retiree chapter is supporting seniors during stay at home
By Susan Morgan, President, AFT Local 1931 Retiree Chapter
As a retiree chapter, one of our current challenges is to find new ways to stay connected, be supportive, and sustain our esprit de corps. The current pandemic has increased challenges for retirees, many of whom were already dealing with the social challenges of isolation and loneliness. These newly heightened mental health concerns are real, and our task is to find meaningful ways to connect with our members to support our common union values and goals.
Being retired in the time of Covid-19
By Dennis Cox, Southern Vice President, Council of Retired Members
AFT retirees have contributed so much to American education, and are in line for well-deserved gratitude from their students, colleagues and communities. You warrant a heartfelt thanks for what you have done, and for staying home and keeping yourselves safe during this outbreak. You are extremely valuable citizens. So, thank you to all who have served, and are now staying safely sheltered in your homes! Please continue to do all you can to stay safe.
Retirees represent Federation at CARA Convention
How CATs — CARA Action Teams — advocate for issues important to seniors
One of the things Hene Kelly likes most about the California Alliance for Retired Americans is its democratic structure where the concerns of all its members get heard.
Another thing Kelly, a vice president of CARA and its legislative director, appreciates is that she thinks CARA goes beyond listening — they act.
Kelly attended the recent CARA Convention in Sacramento where attendees learned how to strategize and make change.
CalPERS bails out of private prisons
Drops $12 million investment in GEO Group and CoreCivic
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, CalPERS, recently rattled the cages of the for-profit prison industry by divesting nearly $10 million of stock in the country’s two biggest private jailers.
The August sell-off came on the heels of the California State Teachers Retirement System, CalSTRS, dropping its $12 million investment in GEO Group and CoreCivic (formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America).
CFT members call on CalSTRS to pressure companies to stop profiting off family separations at the border
Several CFT leaders and members testified today at the CalSTRS Investment Committee meeting in West Sacramento, urging the second largest pension fund in the country to pressure companies that they invest in to stop profiting off family separations at the border.
Michael Bilbrey for CalPERS Board Member
This election will be very close. Every vote counts. Here’s how to cast your vote
The CFT has endorsed and strongly encourages your support for Michael Bilbrey in the runoff election for the CalPERS Board of Administration.
- As a long-time labor leader, Bilbrey has demonstrated his commitment over many years to protecting defined benefit pension plans and ensuring affordable healthcare.
- Michael Bilbrey will make sure that CalPERS is there to provide the retirement security you’ve earned and are counting on.
Your union recommends Michael Bilbrey: At-Large Position B, CalPERS Board
CalSTRS pensions analyzed in light of GOP attacks
Teachers do much better with defined benefit plans than 401(k)s
Most public school teachers working today count on traditional pensions — which guarantee a monthly income based on age, salary and years of service — as their main source of financial security in retirement.
Pension battles shift from ballots to courts
Tracking the latest strategies that attack public employee pensions
For years, people have been trying to attack pensions with ballot propositions, said Doug Orr, an economics professor at City College of San Francisco and the chair of the of the CFT Retirement Policy Committee. Those propositions always go down in defeat, Orr said, and now those attacks on pensions are coming to the courts.
Retirees prepare to stand firm in a hostile new world
Social Security and Medicare targeted by majority party
Candidate Donald Trump told the American people he didn’t want to cut Social Security, but Republicans have opposed the system since its creation during the Depression.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has talked about “means testing” Social Security. In other words, wealthy seniors wouldn’t get benefits because they don’t need them. But they wouldn’t pay into the system, either, and losing the top 10 percent of contributors could lead to financial havoc.
CFT urges CalSTRS to divest from gun manufacturers now
New documentary film Gun-Free Retirement features CFT members
In April 2013, a few months after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adult staff members, the board of California State Teachers’ Retirement System voted to divest from firms making weapons that are illegal to own in California. More than two years later, that hasn’t happened, and Joshua Pechthalt, president of the CFT, wants to make sure it does. Soon.
CFT pushes CalSTRS to divest from gun manufacturing
UPDATE! On June 5, 2015, CalSTRS cashed out of its investment in gun manufacturer Remington Firearms, part of the Cerberus Capital Management portfolio. We thank CalSTRS for listening to CFT. Read story in the Sacramento Bee.
- State Treasurer John Chiang weighed in, supporting the action to divest, in a letter to CalSTRS.
- Read more
- VIDEO: Gun Free Retirement: How teachers are funding gun companies against their will
- IN THE NEWS: “CalSTRS wont rush to sell firearms investment,” Sacramento Bee
- IN THE NEWS: “California teachers demand a gun-free retirement,” KCRA
CalSTRS offers more assistance with service credit reporting
By Sharon Hendricks
To help part-time faculty understand how districts report service credit and to ensure they receive all service credit they have earned throughout their teaching careers when they retire, CalSTRS has opened new centers in Irvine, Glendale, and Santa Clara, staffed by benefits counselors trained to navigate part-time-faculty issues.
Legislature passes significant changes in CalSTRS contributions
In June 2014, the California Legislature made significant changes in contributions to the California State Teachers Retirement System. The CFT formed a task force to study the issue of the system’s “unfunded liability” and to submit the union’s recommendations to the governor and the Legislature. Learn about the changes passed by the Legislature and the union’s positions below.
CFT LETTER TO MEMBERS: June 21, 2014
CFT Members and Staff,
CFT advisory committee analyzing impact of CalSTRS funding gap
The Legislature has begun public hearings to address a $71 billion funding gap in the pension system for K-14 teachers. Without an increase in contributions, CalSTRS predicts its assets will be depleted in about 30 years.
CalSTRS Board Member: Perspective on the shortfall
CalSTRS reports that its unfunded liability grows by $22 million every day that nothing is done. While most California public pension funds can raise annual employer rates when they need more money, CalSTRS requires legislation to raise rates.
Don’t sign! State initiative attacks public employee pensions
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is mounting a major attack on educators’ pensions. He has filed a voter initiative with the Secretary of State and may start collecting signatures in early 2014 to qualify it for the November ballot.
CFT wins improved CalSTRS service credit reporting
New law takes effect July 1
In a victory for part-time community college faculty enrolled in the CalSTRS retirement program, Gov. Brown signed into law CFT-sponsored SB 114 to correct the misreporting of retirement service credit.
New law! Significant pension changes for CalPERS members start January 1
Classified employees with questions about the new Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 may find answers on the Frequently Asked Questions page of the CalPERS website. Here are some answers to common questions.
The new law requires that new employees of public schools and community colleges contribute at least 50 percent of the total normal cost or the same contribution rate as “similarly situated” employees, whichever is higher.
New employees to face reduced retirement benefits
Workers not yet hired will take biggest hit under law passed by legislators with no input from public employee unions
A new law passed in the final hours of the legislative session makes sweeping changes to public employee pensions that impose most of the changes on workers not yet hired, creating a two-tier system in the workplace where two groups of workers doing the same work receive different retirement benefits.