LOCAL 71 BREAKING NEWS - IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR RETIREMENT:

Our members want the public employee retirement system in Alaska fixed. It’s not working, and it’s contributing to employee vacancies. This is not a contract issue; it has to be fixed by the legislature.

Watch the video update from Business Manager, Jordan Adams, here!

Two years ago, we put our efforts into endorsing candidates who said that they would address this issue. That resulted in the introduction of House Bill 220: Public Employees Retirement. Alaska’s most conservative legislators have been quoted publicly saying that the state is “drowning in funds,” and citing this as a reason to vote for the highest spending bill in state history. On top of that, HB 220 shows a slight SAVINGS to the state budget. There is no longer any excuse to deny our members a fair retirement.

Today, during a hearing for the retirement bill addressing police and fire, the architect behind this retirement system acknowledged that we need to address it.

Senator Bert Stedman said: “This is a point for those watching, I know this particular bill is of significant interest around the state. But it is not, in my opinion [just]for the police and fire. We’re not going to start a new benefit plan for an individual group. If there’s problems with Tier VI(4), we either fix ‘em or we put in a new tier for everybody. So, it’s not going to be 6, 7, or 8 % of the employee base, it’s gonna be all of them. So, we’ve gotta make sure that Tier VI(4) is performing as planned & it doesn’t short the employees or fix it or put in a new tier for everybody.”

Watch the full video of the hearing here.

The legislature is scheduled to gavel out on Wednesday. Time is running out! Now is the time to let your legislators know that we need to hear HB 220 addressing your retirement.

Use this link to contact your legislators today