State employee pensions have become a topic of interest to the Hartford Courant in recent weeks.  Three weeks ago the Hartford Courant printed a negative Editorial about our pension funding and followed that with a negative and misinformed Op-Ed piece by David Stemmerman (i think that is his name, not really sure, don't really care).  Since then, the Courant has printed 2 pieces which counter the HC's position and defend the pensions and showcase a true understanding of state employee pensions.

RC 43 TRIF-ic News is the newsletter of NYSUT Retiree Council 43, Teacher Retirees In Florida. It is published bi-monthly, September - August.

The upcoming November 2018 elections may be the MOST crucial elections in several decades.  There are many citizens who routinely vote ONLY in presidential election years.  PLEASE ENCOURAGE FRIENDS, FAMILY and ACQUAINTANCES to vote this year on NOVEMBER 6th.

Fall 2018 Edition

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The mission of the Brookdale Community College Organizing Committee (BCCOC) is to support the highest levels of education for Brookdale students while seeking to join with other Brookdale professionals as an integral part of the Brookdale community. We are organizing to establish a unified and official voice for interacting with Brookdale’s administration to achieve the following goals:

·      Provide a forum for communication among its adjuncts

·      Advocate the respectful, valued and uniform treatment for its adjuncts 

·      Negotiate fair compensation, benefits, working conditions and due process for all its adjuncts.

UPDATE on the Gubernatorial Debates:  The 3rd Gubernatorial Debate will be held on Wednesday 9/26/18 from 7-8pm.  It will be held at UConn-Storrs and televised by WFSB-3.  This will be the first time that Oz Griebel will be on stage with Ned Lamont and Bob Stefanowski...I suppose this debate will again be about whether the residents of CT want to elimate the income tax, punish state employment, and re-fight every social issue that has already been settled over the last 50 years.

As an aside, the Hartford Courant ran an editorial and an Op-Ed piece on State Employee Pensions recently, neither were favorable and neither understood that the deals in place are solid and completely address and resolve the funding issue (a repayment plan is in place and future Tier4 pensions are a hybrid of 401k-style and defined benefits with higher employee contribution rates).  The Courant was kind enough to allow Gov Dannel Malloy to respond to their negativity, and despite the shots we have taken at Dannel over the years, he has always focused on fixing the under-funded pension plan.  Dannel (or is it just Dan now?) wrote a nice op-ed piece 9/21/18 which is based on a full understanding of the issue rather than the "sky is falling" rhetoric we commonly hear...positive rather than negative, refreshing.  Read Dannel's Response.

SmartShopper:

A new part of our healthcare cost savings is called “SmartShopper”.  This is a program run by a company called “Vitals”.  The goal is to find high-quality, low-cost locations for a host of medical procedures/screenings.  Medical procedures can fluxuate in pricing by hundreds or thousands of dollars for the same procedure from one location to another.  If you use SmartShopper to find the more cost efficient locations/doctors, then you will be sent a cash reward. 

Service ratings are governed by Article 10 of the A&R contract.  All P5 bargaining unit employees should receive their service rating 3 months prior to their "anniversy date of July 1 or January 1".  This typically means: ratings should be reviewed by the employee by September 30th or it is deemed to be "late".

Downloadable Critique

Second Gubernatorial Debate held in New Haven: The debate surprisingly did not involve the state employee pensions.  Bob Stefanowski took a quick poke at the DMV, but otherwise, this debate was closer to issues related to the real estate industry as the CT Association of Realtors sponsored the debate.  Bob Stefanowski stuck to a simple, stubborn message of "eliminate the income tax" and "Ned Lamont will raise taxes just like Dan Malloy".  Ned Lamont continually pressed beyond the bumper sticker level messaging and promised a property tax credit for homes/autos.  Overall, bo

The 2nd Gubernatorial Debate between Ned Lamont and Bob Stefanowski will be held tonight (Monday 9/17/18) at 7:00pm at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven (televised on mytv9 [on Cox cable this is channel 9] and will be on wtnh.com).

What: Gubernatoriual candidate debate
When: Tonight 9/17/18 7pm
Televised: mytv9 and wtnh.com