Straight Talk on Retirement in San Jose
by Allison Padgett | August 09, 2011
It was standing-room only as a crowd of hundreds of city workers debunked claims about skyrocketing pension costs in San Jose.
Phrases like “actuarial reports” and “unfunded liabilities” didn’t stop over 200 workers in San Jose, Calif., from foregoing their lunch hour to hear the truth about pensions. AFSCME members recently held this “Straight Talk on Retirement” event in response to claims that skyrocketing pension costs are to blame for budget woes.
“The mayor and city manager are wrong about pensions,” explained Yolanda Cruz, a library worker and president of AFSCME Local 101. “Instead of coming together to find solutions, they are attacking working people.”
As San Jose attempts to tackle a $115 million budget deficit, politicians like Mayor Chuck Reed have heightened their rhetoric against the men and women who serve residents in community centers, libraries and police stations across the city.
Despite the hype, the facts are that the average pension is a modest $36,000 for non-public safety employees — who also do not receive Social Security. San Jose city workers join a growing chorus of public service employees across the country and telling politicians to stop the lies.
Watch this report from KCBS in San Francisco for more:
