NEW: Former Union Head Day Blasts City Council on Pension Reform
Saturday, April 06, 2013
Former head of the Rhode Island firefighters union Stephen Day harshly criticized the Providence City Council's recent approval of amendments to the City's retirement ordinance on Thursday.
"I think the entire process has been flawed, and in time those flaws will unravel and show the real errors," said Day. "I do not believe the general public will have any faith in their public officials once they see how bad this deal is."
On Thursday, April 4th, the City Council gave unanimous approval of amendments to the City’s retirement ordinance. The vote by the full Council marked the final legislative step in ratifying the negotiated settlement reached by Mayor Angel Taveras and police and fire employees and retirees last year. The Council also ratified the collective bargaining agreements for police and fire members, which reflect the content of consent judgments from Rhode Island Superior Court.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"[The City] kept pointing to the compounding COLAs of people with five and six percent COLAs," said Day. "The reality is that those are just a small number of retirees, and the ones that have pensions of less than $30,00 -- which is one third of the retirees -- will be be financially devastated by these changes that [Providence] claims will impact everyone between eight and twelve thousand dollars a year. How are those folks going to live? What happens when the pension checks no longer cover the cost of medical care, nursing homes? It's elder abuse."
The ordinance amendments represent the negotiated settlements between the City and Local 799 of the International Association of Firefighters, the Providence Fraternal Order of Police, and the Providence Retired Police and Firefighter Association. The new retirement rules will save the City an estimated $18.5 million this year, and will reduce the unfunded pension liability by $170 million. Many of the changes were included in the Council’s pension reform legislation approved in May 2012, which remains in effect for non-fire and non-police employees and retirees.
Council President Michael A. Solomon said that, “The intent of the Council’s pension reform efforts always has been to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the retirement system. Without significant changes, the City would not be able to fulfill its obligation to current and future retirees.” Solomon added, “The Mayor, the unions, and the retirees negotiated in good faith, and reached a consensus that will achieve necessary savings and stability.”
The pension reform package was approved March 18th by the Special Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Councilman David A. Salvatore. Salvatore also chaired the Subcommittee on Pension Sustainability, which oversaw the 2012 legislative changes to the retirement ordinance. “The terms agreed upon by all parties to the consent agreement are fair, to both current employees and current retirees, and most importantly, to the city’s taxpayers,” Salvatore stated.
Majority Leader Seth Yurdin said, “The pension reform settlement is the result of everyone coming to the table working in earnest on this issue for the past 18 months. The Council’s commitment to pension reform continues, and I am pleased to see these efforts progress.”
The ordinance and agreements have been forwarded to the Mayor for his signature. Day, however, indicated that he didn't believe that retirees would stop challenging the changes.
"We are going to continue with this legal, political, and moral fight," said Day. "For some of our oldest retirees, there just isn't much fight left however. It's atrocious what's been done here."
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