That’s what NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi has to say about the pension reform passed this morning. Here’s the link to the full NYSUT statement. Here’s the statement from the Public Employees Federation. Here’s a link to a report on the first thoughts of what state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli thinks about Tier 6. Here’s the Eyewitness [...]

NYSUT members have been doing a great job educating their lawmakers about the problems with so-called pension reform. We currently have an online advertising campaign featuring NYSUT retiree Jim Frenette, putting pressure on Albany to say “no” to Tier 6.  We can’t really provide a link to that ad because it shows up on political [...]

Pension reform is in the news. Here’s one link about lobbying going on in the Capitol today. That link also includes video of one of the TV ads now airing. Here’s a link to a Daily News article about concerns of Tier 6. Take a look at who is pushing pension reform. The biggest name [...]

Here’s a slideshow of photos taken at Friday’s rally-vigil in Buffalo. Here’s one headline from the event. You can also check out the conversation on Twitter using the #educateWNY tag. And here’s video from YNN. Reports are coming in about office visits in legislative districts. Very good responses and it sounds like lawmakers are listening [...]

I’d like you to meet Jim Frenette. He’s more than my dad. He’s also a retired teacher. In Tupper Lake, where I grew up, teachers were — and still are — a respected profession. It wasn’t just me and my family who looked up to him, whether he was wearing his school shoes or his [...]

We ask you to do a lot of things. My unscientific poll finds we rarely ask people to give thanks. Earlier today, I read this blog post about the many hits that state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli was getting today. So I called his office in Albany at (518) 474-4044 to thank him for standing up for [...]

Hope we all got a good rest because it’s a busy week ahead. Yes, the deadline looms this week for an agreement on teacher evaluation. Here’s an interesting take on New York City’s negotiations from the elected public advocate. This week, NYSUT will release a video about the impact of a pension on one teaching [...]

The Tier 6 pension reform proposed by the executive budget is bad news for all New Yorkers, wherever they work. “This is about all workers and the security provided by defined-benefit pensions,” New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento sums it up. “Government should set an example for what we aspire to be, not what [...]

That’s the state AFL-CIO’s hotline. You can even call after business hours like I just did (until the mail box gets full.) Press 1 for the governor’s office.  Press 2 gets you to the state operator. Press 3 will get you to the Assembly operator. Be  prepared to know who your Senator or Assemblymember is [...]