PROTECTION OF RETIREMENT FUNDS

WHEREAS, public retirement funds represent the future retirement income security of millions of public employees; and

WHEREAS, many governors and state legislatures use these funds to offset budget shortfalls through a variety of funding changes designed to lower the employer's contribution; and

WHEREAS, the manipulation of actuarial assumptions, change in actuarial funding methods, and the delayed funding of cost-of-living adjustments and postretirement health care benefits can destabilize the fund and put retirement benefits in jeopardy; and

WHEREAS, the lengthening of the amortization period for paying off the pension benefit beyond a normal working career can push the payment of current pension costs onto our grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, plan participants have very little authority over such decisions, because they are not represented on the pension board or, where they are represented, occupy a minority position; and

WHEREAS, many public pension trustees are not bound to exclusively consider the interests of plan participants and beneficiaries in all funding, benefit and investment matters, because the state has not created an independent and separate trust fund to hold pension assets, but keeps them as part of the general account:

RESOLVED, that the AFT will work with state federations, locals and pension trustees to disclose the impact of pension funding and benefit changes on members and taxpayers in each affected state; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will help state federations and locals lobby for pro-worker and retiree pension reforms at the state level; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will work with the NEA and other associations to lobby the U. S. Congress and various federal agencies to pass legislation and regulations that will protect the retirement income of all public employees.