Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Teacher Retirement at Risk


I received the following information this afternoon:

I spent this afternoon at a retired teacher meeting in Farmington.  Frightening!  A colleague and I usually go to these meetings once a month mostly because we get information about what is going on in Lansing.   If you are a retired teacher or public school employee, currently a teacher or public school employee or a believer in public education, you need to be aware of this latest bill in committee.   In the last year and a half the current government has already started to destroy collective bargaining units and changed the rules of our current retirement pension. This bill will cut even more!

If this bill passes, current retires will pay double their current health care costs immediately!  This is just the beginning of health care issues.  Current pensions and the future pensions of current teachers are in jeopardy.   If the current government gets their way, teachers will have to retire after 30 years in the profession or be penalized for staying longer.   If you graduate from college at age 22 and work 30 years, what kind of job will be available to you at age 52?  Read this bill!

Many of the retirees at this meeting today were unaware of this bill.  PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS TO LET THEM KNOW YOU OPPOSE THIS BILL!  Frank, (the retiree who reports this kind of information at our meetings) said that he was told by a Republican Senator that only ONE PERCENT of the people that this will affect will contact anyone in Lansing.  ONE %!!!  The Senator said that when that comes to votes that is nothing so they pretty much ignore the one percent and figure others will still vote for them.  YOUR CALLS, EMAILS and LETTERS MATTER!!!!

IF YOU THINK YOUR VOTE DOESN'T MATTER, THINK AGAIN!!!!  We need people in office who care about the workers and not just their big business pals.   MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR IN NOVEMBER!  WE NEED KNOWLEDGABLE REPRESENTATION IN THE HOUSE, SENATE, SUPREME COURT AND ON THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION!

 When I went into education I knew I would never be making a six digit figure salary.  I did know (or thought I knew) that I would have a pension and health care when I retired.  Now that I've been retired less than 2 years, the rules have changed and continue to change.  After paying into the pension plan for 36 years there is a chance I may be left with nothing.  This hits every public school employee!  Make yourself aware and be heard!!!

I'm sending this to some of you who no longer live in Michigan but are still receiving your pension. You need to be informed as well.

Please send this to your public school employee friends.  Thank you.

Upset and stressed in Michigan,

Wendy

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