8/1/05
Greetings everyone,
We have important pension news to share this time. Please help us distribute this newsletter by sharing it with those folks at non-City Hall locations. Thanks.
We have refrained from sharing pension news (and pension rumors) while negotiations were on-going, but we can assure everyone that both PACE and AFSCME have been very active towards getting pension legislation out of committee and before the full council for a vote this year.
The big news is that the Phase I pension reform legislation
(05-O-1232) was passed by the Executive Finance Committee last week and will be voted on by the full Council when members return from recess later this month. The legislation provides for a 2.5% multiplier retroactive (a 25% increase), a 10 year vesting, and a provision for classified defined contribution pension program members to join the new defined benefit plan.
Over all, this legislation addresses many pension problems (we consider it the foundation for pension reforms) and we wish to thank the Mayor and the Council for their support thus far. We look forward to seeing this legislation passed by the full Council and signed by the Mayor this month.
Of course, everyone would have liked to have seen something done about the age penalty, and extending the DC to DB pension conversion to unclassified, non-appointed employees, but we will be happy to see 05-O-1232 passed and then work on the rest later this year. We are working on possible ways to help finance these additional improvements. If you have any suggestions, let us know.
If you are not a PACE member, you can help us promote further pension reforms by joining PACE today. To see how, please visit our Web site:
http://paceatlanta.prometheuslabor.com/node/14
Please feel free to write us about any concerns or suggestions.
The PACE Executive Board
6/20/05
Greetings everyone,
This newsletter concerns recent pension reform developments. Please share with your fellow employees especially those at remote sites, the Airport, and City Hall East.
Last Wednesday, Ms. Davis, the City CFO, spoke before the Executive Finance Committee concerning pension reform. Representing the Administration, she presented a three phase approach to make the City’s pension programs more competitive within the metropolitan area. The three phase priorities break down as follows:
Phase 1 (to be implemented this year) -
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Phase 2 (to be implemented within 5 years, finances permitting) –
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Phase 3 (to be implemented within 10 years, finances permitting) –
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First, we’d like to thank the Mayor and the Council for seriously addressing the pension problems facing the City. The priorities submitted go a long way towards making the City more competitive and solving the unfairness between the City’s four pension plans. However, we believe one very serious problem still needs to be fixed this year – the punitive 3% penalty applied to the last 5 years of early retirement.
Everyone agrees, there is no actuarial purpose for this penalty. It seems to exist only to hold long term employees hostage for the last 5 years of their careers no matter how long they have worked at the City. The cost of fixing this problem is small and can be paid for by extending the refinancing of the unfunded pension liability a few additional years.
Another option supported by most employees would be to apply the cost of eliminating the punitive 3% penalty to a permanent rule of age and years of service which would cost about the same. It seems to us that this option would help the most folks for the same money. We will be lobbying for this option and we hope it will make it to the final legislation.
We’d like to remind everyone that any pension reforms will not be final until passed by 10 members of the Council and signed by the Mayor so please do not call Employee Benefits to ask when pension changes will take place.
Finally, an appeal to all employees to help us give you a voice by joining the union you are eligible to join. Please visit our Web site at www.paceatlanta.org to see if you are eligible to join PACE. Thank you.
The PACE Executive Board
2/14/05
Greetings everyone, Happy Valentines Day
Please help us distribute this newsletter by sharing it with your friends and coworkers. Thanks.
I. Pay raises and salary adjustments (continued from last newsletter)
The 2005 salary adjustment legislation was introduced last week during the General Council meeting. You can see it here:
http://apps.atlantaga.gov/citycoul/personal/Personal_papers.htm
Click on the link to open the file (requires Adobe Acrobat) and then scroll down to page 64 to ordinance number 05-O-0261. This is a large piece of legislation that can affect your salary in several ways.
1. Some jobs were reclassified to a higher grade, but not all jobs. We have been told that further evaluations will be done later this year, so if your job wasn’t adjusted in this paper, it may be adjusted later.
2. The entire pay scale was changed so that every step increases at a fixed 3.5% rate. If you look at your current grade and step in the new scale and it is lower that your current pay, you will be moved up to the next higher step. In other words, no one’s pay will be less than it is now.
3. If after all adjustments to your salary end up being less than $500.00 for the year, you will get a one time bonus to make up the difference between your new annual salary and $500.00.
So, after all adjustments are made, there will be several ways your salary may be more than the 1% salary increase that is in the 2005 budget. How much more you end up getting depends on many factors so you have to look through the whole piece of legislation to see. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Overall we believe DHR should be given credit for getting as much done as they did in a very short time. We all agree, some folk’s pay may still be out of whack, but a good start has been made that can be built upon.
II. Pension reform
Lots going on concerning pension reform, too much to cover in a newsletter.
If you want to know were we are please come to the next General Meeting (see
below) where we will discuss it in more detail.
III. PACE General Meeting
The next PACE General Membership meeting is scheduled for 02/22/05, from 12:00 – 1:00 PM in the Old Council Chambers, City Hall Tower. We’ll be discussing the latest pension news, budget news, voting for a new Treasurer (Tangela Jones has decided to leave the City – nominations will be accepted from the floor during the meeting) and the official installation of the 2005 Executive Board. The National President of NAGE, David Holway, will be here during the installation.
Please make plans to attend. Did we mention that FOOD and REFRESHMENTS will be provided? OK, now you know so we’ll see you there.
Please feel free to write us about any questions or suggestions. Thanks.
The PACE Executive Board