While members of District Council 37 in Tier 6 will soon see their pension contribution rates decrease, some in the city’s largest municipal union are frustrated that they will still have to wait until age 63 to retire, while teachers across the state will now be able to retire at 58. Their frustration with the lack of retirement age reform is compounded by the bait and switch of DC 37 leadership, who told local presidents in an executive board meeting a week before the pension changes were finalized that DC 37 members would have their retirement age lowered too.
Some local presidents took that information back to their members, leading some in the rank and file to believe the changes would be deeper than what was finalized.
“During my recent Local 2627 meeting last week we were told that our retirement age would be lowered to 58 and that it was agreed upon and would ‘just need to be signed’ only to have the rug pulled out from under us,” one DC 37 member commented on DC 37’s Instagram post announcing the finalized reforms. “I’m happy for the teachers but this is gross.”…