What is happening in Dallas is an extreme example of what’s happening in many other places around the country. Elected officials promised workers solid pensions years ago, on the basis of wishful thinking rather than realistic expectations. Dallas’s troubles have become more urgent because its plan rules let some retirees take big withdrawals.
California’s gubernatorial transitions have included a less-than-stellar tradition in recent decades – outgoing governors leaving budget deficits to successors. . . So Brown’s fix is temporary, rather than permanent. And with so many variables, the next governor could easily be back in the soup.
The California State Teachers Retirement System board, for example, was told that in 1971 there were were six active workers in the system for every retiree. Today CalSTRS only has 1.5 active workers for every retiree, similar to the CalPERS ratio.
The union has denounced the administration’s proposed wage increase of 12 percent over four years as inadequate because it fails to address what it contends are gender pay inequities in the state workforce. It also objects to the administration’s proposal that employees pay more for their health benefits.
The laborers have been working without a contract for four years, union officials say. That’s why they have been asking for back pay in their negotiations with UCLA. They have asked for 20.39% in retroactive back pay and annual wage increases of 17.39%, 5% and 4%.
An official revision of CalPERS’ investment assumptions would place significant pressure on government spending, with public employee pension obligations consuming a larger portion of taxpayer dollars. That could, in turn, squeeze other government programs.
It’s trying to persuade Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration to give its members a larger raise than its initial offer of 12 percent over four years.
“Twenty million Americans now have health coverage because of Obamacare. A full quarter of them are in California. And most of them are covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. Right now, the federal government shares the cost of Medicaid with the states, no matter how many people are enrolled. But Trump wants to cap that funding, and just give states one fixed grant.”
California’s path-breaking bid to end workplace pay disparities faces one of its widest gender wage gaps among the state’s own employees.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s plan to reform the city’s three pension plans has received the backing from the Houston Police Department , Houston Fire Department and the Houston Municipal Employees, Turner said Monday. . . The plan is designed to eliminate $5.6 billion in unfunded pension liability within 30 years, but would also reduce benefits avoiding more than $2.5 billion in future costs, and include the issuance of at least $1 billion in bonds.
The union is trying to get a bigger raise than the 2.96 percent pay hike Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is offering. Brown’s proposal would raise SEIU salaries by 12 percent over four years, but also require its members to begin paying a contribution toward their retiree health care costs.
Documents obtained by Scientific American through Freedom of Information Act requests now paint a disturbing picture of the tactics that are used to control the science press. For example, the FDA assures the public that it is committed to transparency, but the documents show that, privately, the agency denies many reporters access—including ones from major outlets such as Fox News—and even deceives them with half-truths to handicap them in their pursuit of a story. At the same time, the FDA cultivates a coterie of journalists whom it keeps in line with threats. And the agency has made it a practice to demand total control over whom reporters can and can’t talk to until after the news has broken, deaf to protests by journalistic associations and media ethicists and in violation of its own written policies.
Dallas’s police and firefighters are quitting in droves, wagering that financial-market losses are about to render their promised pensions too good to be true.
“A November ballot measure, Proposition 55, would extend that dangerous dependency on the rich for another 12 years, and its strong lead in the polls is a testament to the cynical validity of Brown’s observation about voters’ willingness to approve taxes that they won’t be paying themselves. However, some go even further, seeking taxes on those who have absolutely no power to protest, even at the polls.”
More than 50 employees working inside Los Angeles County’s juvenile lockups received promotions despite a history of disciplinary problems or criminal arrests under a deal county leaders quietly cut earlier this year.