Letter to Robin Rayfield, June 15, 2018

Hi Robin --

I just finished reading your remarks in the June ORTA newsletter, and am delighted and impressed that you were able to get Mike Nehf and the senior STRS staff to meet with you in your office! I doubt if that's ever happened before, so kudos to you! I'm glad they were willing to talk and answer questions.

The five year wait for the return of any Board discussion of our COLA is a bit distressing, however. I'm sure many retirees are wondering why they aren't revisiting that issue at least on an annual basis, particularly if the economy continues to improve. Time is of the essence for many retirees. You and I know many of them won't be around in five years, and I'm sure the STRS Board is well aware of that. Gee, another cost-saving device for them!

Anyway, thank you for continuing to keep the COLA issue on front burner at STRS. If the STRS Board had its way, it would be buried for those five years. It's very hurtful for retirees to see STRS employees continue to receive raises, and the investment department to receive humongous bonuses on top of theirs, no matter what the economy does, when there are retirees struggling daily just to make ends meet. Retirees get no raises. Too bad our benefits aren't through OPERS, like everyone who works at STRS. We'd be in much better shape (like them) if we were.

Thank you for your hard work in preserving the Part B Medicare reimbursement, Robin. No doubt the STRS Board would have taken that away from us, too; more chipping away at our hard-earned benefits. Retirees are well aware that STRS is under no obligation to provide healthcare for us, but we have come to depend heavily on this "gift", particularly since many of us would not be able to afford it otherwise. Keeping our COLA would have helped a lot.

Well, I got off the track. I started to write to give you a heads-up on a mass protest coming up at next week's STRS Board meeting, to protest the loss of our COLA and to push for its reinstatement. You may already be aware of it. The protest has been organized by two retirees from Cincinnati, Dean Dennis and Bob Buerkle, whom you have no doubt heard speak at STRS Board meetings. We will be assembling in the STRS Board Room on Thursday, June 21, by 10:00 a.m., wearing black shirts; some may be carrying signs. After the public participation, we will take our protest to another location, possibly the Statehouse. It would be nice if ORTA were to be a part of this. There will probably be some TV cameras around, too.

Best wishes,

Kathie Bracy