In last night’s VPT gubenatorial debate, Brian Dubie (R) said the following:
“We’re going to have to look at pensions. We’re going to have to have the conversation like we had with the state teachers with our state employees. It’s a difficult conversation, but we’re going to have to do that. We’re going to have to think about going from a defined benefits to defined contributions.”
Please share this quote with your co-workers! VSEA members need to get out in front of proposals like this!
Note: Pilots belonging to Dubie’s own union (the Allied Pilots Assn.) are some of the last in the airline industry to still have a defined benefit plan–and the pilots are fighting hard to protect it!!!
Click To Read Letter To Members From VSEA President Bob Hooper!
Dear VSEA Member:
Over the past year, we worked hard to protect your retirement, but Brian Dubie made it clear yesterday that he wants to weaken it.
During the Vermont Public Television Gubernatorial debate last night Republican Candidate Brian Dubie stated:
“We’re going to have to have the conversation like we had with the state teachers with our state employees. It’s a difficult conversation, but we’re going to have to do that. We’re going to have to think about going from a defined benefits to defined contributions.”
I personally was shocked to hear Mr. Dubie make this statement since it is not proven to save any money without effectively making the state less competitive as an employer, and putting its employees at great risk. Several years ago, when the stock market was strong, the defined contribution option looked attractive to some members. Then the other shoe dropped and the market crashed, causing up to 60% or more of accumulated wealth to vanish from members accounts-lesson learned.
In other words, people lost their retirement because they had the riskier defined contribution plan.
Our current defined benefit plan is safer, and there is less risk of significant loss when there’s a downturn in the market. VSEA has worked hard to protect this plan and we won’t sit idle as Brian Dubie uses it to pit state workers against tax-payers.
When approached for comment, VSEA endorsed candidate Peter Shumlin stated,
"I have consistently opposed proposals to destabilize retirement plans by moving to a Defined Contribution style system.”
There are a lot of significant issues being talked about in this campaign. Some are being discussed truthfully and some are purposely being put out to deceive our members.
I would urge members to pay close attention to this issue in the next few weeks.
Bob Hooper
VSEA President
