RHJones' thoughts on ORTA

From RH Jones, July 12, 2010

To all:

As a Life Member of ORTA, I protest the ORTA President, Bob Dengler, and ORTA Director Ann Hanning's lack of support for maintaining our modestly calculated 3% flat COLA. In the ORTA, Summer 2010, Quarterly, there was no mention of it except to meekly publish and go along with Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC) Director Aristotle Hutras' quote, appearing , "Thus, changes in the COLA are going to be part of the legislation."

The expensive, slick ORTA Quarterly publication in vivid color is 14-pages long! It seems to me that our dues money could have been better spent in securing a law firm to contest this perhaps unlawful cut of our promised remuneration of the 3% COLA. And, now, the ORTA officials have the audacity to ask for a dues increase!

The Quarterly also mentioned the two retired teacher STRS board members, McGreevy and Stein, as being supportive of our STRS management's legislative goals of retired member cuts when, in fact, we have already been severely cut by the increased retired teacher costs of HC/Rx. It is ironic, that at a time when retired teachers have had extremely high inflation in our HC/Rx costs, the coalition between the ORTA and our STRS retiree board members in supporting the COLA cut is particularly very unfortunate for us. This is happening now at a time when the U.S. Attorney General has recently stated that such promises cannot be cut! The expensive, slick ORTA Quarterly publication in vivid color is 14-pages long! It seems to me that our dues money could have been better spent in securing a law firm to contest this perhaps unlawful cut of our promised remuneration of the 3% COLA. And, now, the ORTA officials have the audacity to ask for a dues increase!

In the not too distant past, previous STRS board members and ORTA officials worked very hard to get the COLA and other retiree income protections passed through the Ohio legislature. Therefore, without a stand for us now, the ORTA, the 2- STRS retired board reps, and the state reps may think that they can get away with cutting our defined benefits -- better known as delayed compensations. Many retired Ohio teachers may ask, how in the world will those who advocate cutting our COLA be able to explain their thoughtless position when the other states will have wisely voted to retain their retiree COLA? And, if in the Ohio legislature does happen next November and causes the 1% COLA cut, regardless of political party, I can guarantee that all of those legislators that voted so irresponsibly to cut our COLA, will hear from us in the voting booth. And the ORTA officials and the others who "ganged up on us" will feel our wrath, as well.

Already, California has cut only future retirees; but, that is not the answer either. Here in Ohio, the legislature has to raise the employer rate. Since it has been reported that mental health is the number one reason for disability retirements of Ohio teachers caused by the increasingly extreme public pressures placed on current and future teachers, I can see no way that Ohio can escape paying out even higher active teacher disability payments. To remain competitive in the world business environment Ohio must "bite the bullet" and pay what is needed to grow the seed money to make the STRS once again the "Cadillac of Pension Systems". There is no other reasonable alternative.

Please forward this message to your Ohio legislator, the OEA, the OEA-R, the ORTA officials, and all of the STRS board members.

RHJones, ORTA Life Member