RH Jones: OPERS not recommending cuts for their retirees

From RH Jones, May 24, 2010

Re: No cuts recommended for OPERS retirees

To all retired OH STRS members:

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is not recommending changes in their retired members pension. For this retired Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) member, it is not pension envy of my brothers and sisters who are retired in OPERS, but wonder at the position my STRS Board of Directors has recommended that we receive a cut of 1% of our simple fixed Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)? Please see the attached copy of page 4 of the Ohio PERS News – Spring 2010.

My STRS has always claimed to be more cost effective by having numerous in-house investment staff that outperforms investment companies hired from the private sector. If this is the case then, I wonder why our retiree COLA is recommended to be cut when the OPERS' is not. I think that a major reason is that by not protecting us from this threat, the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) and the Ohio Education Association Retired (OEA-R) are not properly representing us. They are to protect us, not to make concessions to those who wish to reduce or COLA or any other of part of our hard earned delayed compensations, including HC/Rx; and, further, only leaving the 3% COLA for those who have incomes of less than $30,000 discriminates against the rest of those retired. It is best for the STRS just to keep the COLA at 3% and just leave it alone for all retired members.

In view of the recent rise, albeit moderate, in the Wall Street Stock Market, and in other areas of the STRS investments, the STRS investment department is adding billions to the STRS general fund. One wonders, then, if it is necessary to take back benefits from retired members. We retired teachers will not live long enough to see another great recession. We will live long enough to see high inflation, however.

Please scroll down to the second page of this e-mail to read the OPERS newsletter statement on retention of the 3% COLA for retirees. I hope this is not an OPERS oversimplified statement. Their members, along with retired teachers, need our full 3% COLA. The 3% was voted on and passed by an Honorable Ohio Legislature. It is now Ohio law and the present legislators should not attempted to reduce it.

RHJones, retired teacher member of ORTA and OEA-R

Click image TWICE to enlarge.

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