Sondra Stratton: Letter to STRS Board, August 20, 2009

Director, Board members, Retirees, and Valued STRS employees:

It is with dismay that I again feel the need to make this address before the STRS board meeting.

At the get go, I want to be clear that power hungry OEA and spineless ORTA do not represent me.....past, future or present!

When I go to the polls on election day it is to vote for the candidate that will best serve my positions. When those officials vote in ways that personally or morally offend me, I am a very squeaky wheel! When politicians, whether local, state or federal, vote against the wishes of their constituents, I am angered. When politicians put themselves on a pedestal above everyone else and above the law, I am no longer angered but incensed!

I use this example because the same exact thing can be said about the entire STRS system. When you go against the membership, whose money you are handling, retirees feel the same way about board members and employees. That is why STRS has reaped the wrath of retirees for the last 6-7 years. That trust has been broken over and over, and is severely damaged with precious little chance of repair!

Once again retirees are being TOLD to absorb the costs of STRS. It is not enough to take the 13th check, reasonable spousal/dependent HC costs, and ever rising Healthcare premiums, prescriptions and lowering of benefits. NOW you are TELLING us we will just have to give up a portion or perhaps all of the 3% NOT COLA. I say NOT because the existing COLA does not come close to keeping up with the current cost of living and unlike employees, it is a SIMPLE COLA and not COMPOUND!!! STRS is going in the wrong direction! STRS needs to cut costs at STRS by starting with the building. Next, all raises should be stopped, as well as bonuses until such time as STRS is solvent. Additionally, employees should have the same spousal/child healthcare costs as retirees. Until such time that employees have to tighten their belts, nothing more should be asked from retirees and everything is NOT on the table!!!

Any unwilling or unempathetic employee who is disinclined to take a considerable list of significant cuts to the table should be invited to hit the pavement in search of a better job. With so many people out of work, there are many who would love to have the job, be appreciative of having the honor to work for retirees, show some enthusiasm for their work and work for less pay and "extras" and probably do a better job! This board, who SHOULD be representing the membership, MUST DEMAND of ITSELF and its EMPLOYEES to find ways cuts can be made from the director and employees without further rape of retirees' meager pensions. Retirees are not ASKING but DEMANDING this be done with our money!!!

While I fully intended to deliver these words of wisdom and reason, I, however, find myself sitting beside my 85-year-old mother, who has fallen, broken her hip and had extensive surgery. Why? Because it is my responsibility.

In closing, I am yet again challenging board members and staff to do some deep soul searching of your responsibility to us!

Sondra Stratton

30 year veteran teacher

Past Treasurer and President of Brown Co. Retired Teachers Association

Take care!