SEIU agrees to concessionary contract for California government workers: more two-tier pensions

[Hannah Bell]

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in California has pushed through an agreement that will reduce pay and pension benefits for state and city workers. The contract, which was approved just one week after the elections, is an indication of the type of austerity measures that will be imposed—with the complicity of the unions—throughout the state and across the US.

The 95,000 workers in the union voted to accept the cuts on November 9 after the SEIU and the state government presented a yes vote as the only way to avoid furloughs.

Effective immediately, all workers’ retirement contributions will increase by 3 percent. The contract establishes a two-tiered pension system, effectively raising the retirement age for new hires. Current employees will be able to retire at 55 with pensions equal to 2 percent of their pay for every year they work. New hires will not be eligible for this option until they are 60.

The SEIU is touting as a major accomplishment a supposed one-year prohibition on furlough days written into the contract. Yet, workers will take a 4.62 percent pay cut that comes with 12 mandatory days off per year. Far from putting an end to furlough days, this contract has effectively institutionalized them.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/seiu-n18.shtml

[old mark]

1. They just passed a "pension reform bill" here in PA, too, but it seems to

be pretty legit - at least on the surface.

mark