LTFA

What's New at LTFA 4117

Updated On: Jul 12, 2008 (01:29:00)
NOFD Raises Not Ready Sheldon Fox, July 10, 2008 New Orleans ? The battle continues, and it's not a five-alarm blaze the NOFD is fighting but a hold-up of the money the department says it's owed. An official New Orleans City Council vote to bring firefighter pay up to the southern regional average with a 10% pay raise is on hold until next week. The Council supports raises for the department, which has been legally battling the mayor's office for years with respect to its pay. But council member Shelley Midura wants to hear more from the mayor's office after it sent letters to the council yesterday saying the raises would handcuff the city's budget.. NOFD union chief, Nick Felton, calls the administration's 11th-hour letters to the council a "scare tactic". Council members agree with Midura that an analysis of the new money slated for firefighters is needed with respect to what it would mean for future city spending, but Councilman At-Large, Arne Fielkow wondered aloud why Nagin's administration would wait to send letters one day before today's council meeting. The 10-percent raises for firefighters would mean the city would spend $290,000 by December 1st and $2.5-million in 2009 according to Cary Grant, the mayor's Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, who says a shelling out of such funds could lead to city layoffs, and an inability to hire new firefighters. Felton dismissed that notion. "Listen, we always hear threats of layoffs, okay? I look at the city budget. Maybe what we ought to do is start laying off some of these people (in City Hall) making $170, $180-thousand a year, okay? And start paying some of our firefighters who make under $10 an hour." Copyright © 2008, WGNO

IAFF Member Promotes Defined Benefit Plans Before Congressional Committee

Updated On: Jul 12, 2008 (01:19:00)
IAFF Member Promotes Defined Benefit Plans Before Congressional Committee July 11, 2008 ? Will Pryor, a member of Los Angeles County, CA Local 1014 and Chair of Investment at the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, testified July 10 on the importance of defined benefit (DB) pension plans to the retirement security of fire fighters and all Americans in a hearing before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress chaired by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). Pryor drew on his dual roles as a Los Angeles County fire fighter and as Chair of Investment at the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, which manages more than $40 billion in assets on behalf of 151,000 pension plan participants. At the hearing, Pryor heralded DB pension plans, telling committee members that ?local governments support defined benefit plans as a cost-effective measure to pay for a sustainable retirement for employees and to allow for recruitment and retention of a well trained workforce.? Defined benefit plans are four times less expensive to administer than defined contribution (DC) plans and studies show that DB plans outperform private mutual funds by more than three percent. Pryor described DB plans as ?well-funded, diversified investment vehicles that serve their members in all aspects of retirement.? He recommended that the committee protect DB plans in the public sector and revitalize them in the private sector, where conversions to DC plans have become the norm in recent years. The hearing was called following a series of misleading press articles that have called into question the stability of defined benefit pension plans, alleging that they are a drain on local taxpayers. Senator Casey, who chaired the hearing, called DB plans a ?key factor in attracting and keeping excellent teachers, fire fighters, police, social workers and other public employees.? The Senator also expressed serious concern that further conversions to DC plans would ?add substantially to the risk we are asking ordinary Americans to take.? The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) is a bicameral congressional committee that studies policy issues impacting the U.S. economy and advises members of Congress accordingly. The IAFF is continuing to work with the JEC and other key federal agencies to protect fire fighter retirement security. To read Pryor?s full testimony, click here.
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Pension Testimony.pdf

Senator Edward Kennedy Will Overcome Latest Health Challenge

Updated On: May 30, 2008 (12:43:00)

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Kennedy.pdf

Collective Bargaining Bill Delayed By Partisanship

Updated On: May 31, 2008 (10:21:00)
Collective Bargaining Bill Delayed By Partisanship May 16, 2008 ? After an historic 69-29 cloture vote to bring the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (H.R. 980/S.2123) on the floor of the U.S Read More...