Act Now to Stop New Attacks on PERS
Over the past few years, AAUP-Oregon members and allies have stood together to stop cuts to PERS that would harm our retirement security. Time and time again corporate special interests and some politicians have come after our benefits, and this year has brought a fresh attack.
Contact Governor Brown and your local legislators today. Tell them to defend retirement security for public employees.
Here’s a rundown of what’s at stake:
- Salaries could be cut. One proposal would require working people to pay a percentage of salary into the state’s pension fund with NO increase in benefits.
- Individual Account Program funds could be decimated. One of the leading proposals would take the 6% of salary that today goes into building your personal retirement account and divert it to pay the state’s obligation to people already retired. Analysis shows that this could cut retirement accounts in half, or even more, depending on how close people are to retirement.
- Pensions could be eliminated for new hires. Another proposal would eliminate pensions for new hires and create a “fourth tier” with a 401(k) type retirement. This would wipe out the promise of retirement security, as the next downturn in the economy would leave retirees high and dry.
These attacks are coming from all fronts. Bills and ballot measure petitions (see here) have been filed that make these harmful cuts.
The single most important thing you can do is contact Governor Brown and your local legislators today. There are important hearings coming up. When elected officials hear from us, they remember what PERS cuts do to harm public employees and make it more difficult to deliver quality public services, including higher education.
Here is the link to use to contact your legislators: https://keeporegonspromise.org/email-your-lawmaker/
Click on it, share your story, send the letter, and then spread the word!
In Solidarity,
Michael Dreiling
AAUP-Oregon President
