'This is gross.' DC 37 members frustrated by rug-pull of Tier 6 retirement age change

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 – five years later than teachers in Tier 6 who can now retire at 58. Members' frustration with the lack of retirement age reform this year 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.” 

Laura Pirtle Morand, president of Local 2627, confirmed that she had passed the information from the executive board meeting onto her members. She said she hasn’t heard anything from DC 37 leadership on the Tier 6 reforms since. 

 “When you told me, it was the first I heard it only applied to teachers,” she told The Chief.  

Joe Puleo, president of Local 983, said that “nobody questioned it at the time” when DC 37 leaders told those on the union’s executive board that members’ retirement age would be lowered to age 58. He and two other local presidents said they hoped DC 37 leadership would explain the error at the next executive board meeting on June 10.  

Carmen De Leon, president of Local 768, said that she too came away from that executive board meeting believing DC 37 members in Tier 6 would be included in retirement reforms.  

President of Local 371 Anthony Wells insisted that union leadership had already rectified its mistake. 

“That’s why they put erasers on pencils,” he said.  

Wells, and other backers of the finalized changes, emphasized that members of Tier 6 – those hired after April 2012 – won't reach retirement age for another decade at least, leaving plenty of time for the union to push retirement age reform in the future.  

'Teachers ended up getting a better deal than us'

But members remain frustrated. 

“The general sentiment is that the teachers ended up getting a better deal than us because they got their retirement age lowered,” said Reyna Wang, chair of Local 375’s parks chapter and DC 37 delegate. "People felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath them when we only got a few percentage point reduction in our contribution rates." 

Cristina Rodriguez-Hart, a Local 3005 member, said that other members she spoke to weren’t that excited about the finalized changes.  

"The reduction is quite small in terms of the percentage,” she said. "I think some people are happy there's a reduction, but it's not going to make that much of a difference in our take home pay." 

The change in contribution rates finalized in the budget will kick in Oct. 1. 

A spokesperson for District Council 37 did not respond to a request for comment. 

'It's a victory, but we need to continue fighting'

Workers within Tier 6 earning below $75,000 will have their contribution rates set at three percent. For those making between $75,000 and $100,000, contribution rates would lower to four percent from 5.75 percent, and contributions for those making between $100,000 and $125,000 would lower to 5.25 percent from the current six percent. 

Those making over $125,000 would have their contribution rates set at 5.75 percent, down from the current six percent.   

Instead of having their contribution rates lowered, teachers in New York State will instead have their retirement age lowered five years, from 63 to 58.  The changes reflect what each union pushed for – the United Federation of Teachers and DC 37 wages largely separate Tier 6 reform campaigns, with the former focusing on lowering the retirement age and latter pushing contribution reductions. 

Manhattan teacher Ryan Bruckenthal said that the retirement age reform was a “meaningful change to my relationship to my  career."   

But the UFT member argued it was only a “partial victory” and that members would need to push for more reforms in the future.  

Wang echoed that sentiment. 

“It is a victory, but we need to continue fighting,” she said. “We have to be the change we want to see.”  

De Leon, the Local 768 president, believes the union will keep pushing for retirement age reform.  

"It doesn't mean that we won't get there,” she said of this year’s changes. "It is what it is at this point, but it doesn't mean we can't whittle away at it bit by bit."