DONOHUE SLAMS GOV'S TIER VI PENSION PROPOSAL

Albany, N.Y.--  Cuomo makes another grandstand play for his millionaire friends

"Congratulations to Governor Cuomo for another grandstand play for the attention of his millionaire friends at the expense of the real working people of New York," according to CSEA President Danny Donohue. "The governor's proposal for a Tier VI pension reform for public employees is more evidence of how out of touch he is with working people and the economic pressures they face every day."

"The governor's onerous proposal will pick the pockets of front-line public workers and undermine their retirement security without providing any short term savings," Donohue said.

New York state and local government pension facts:

•The average CSEA member pension is about $14,000;

•The New York State Employee Retirement System is already the best funded system in the country and at no immediate risk;

•Current obligations are due to reforms necessitated by the Wall Street crash of recent years and a decade of public employers not contributing to the system while employees contributed 3 percent of salary;

•Tier V reforms were enacted just two years ago and have yet to yield their savings to taxpayers;

•Cuomo's Tier VI reforms will put unnecessary, unfair and undue burden on the lowest-paid employees in public employment.

"Governor Cuomo's proposal can only be viewed as an attack on working people to score some cheap political points," Donohue said.