[PRCo] Re: Shaker

[John Swindler]

Hi Fred
 
The extra 1/2 % pension multiplier paid for the hospitalization somewhere around 1986.  In the end, none of it really matters - other then trying to stay healthy.  Glad you are shedding some weight.
 
As for wages in 70s and 80s, would have gone up anyway, but the union presence helped.  I tend to view that as the Johnson/Kennedy deficit spending that caught up with the economy during the Carter years.  Wondering if the Bush deficit spending is going to catch up with the economy much quicker??
 
John
 
p.s.  36 months should cover retirement at the new pay rate, and already at the 23 month point.  Time goes too fast.
 
 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Shaker> Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:38:24 -0500> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > I tend to be rather cynical too Herb but I have to admit that my > salary in management with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania increased > significantly because the unions pushed the wages beneath me upward > in the 1970s and 1980s. Today there is a two and three tier > retirement system, but I'm in the older system. I benefitted by the > wage increases but I did loose in the cutbacks in hospitalization. > And, by being in management, I didn't have to pay any union dues. On > the other hand, John Swindler gets a fatter pension than I do but he > has to contribute to his hospitalization. I'm not sure who got the > better deal. I can assure you that the salaries began to drop > backward after the unions lost strength.> > But I have to relate a funny story. There was a great lady that I > worked with when I ran an interagency committee back in the early > 1980s ... after she retired she moved back to live with her daughter > in Sacramento and for all I know she may be dead now. But she knew > how to work the system. Under Governor Thornburg, the State > Department of Education illegally decided to clean house of all its > elderly employees to avoid later paying pension benefits. Ginny > hauled them into court. And she just sat back and waited. It took > several years for the case to run through the courts. Many of the 50 > or so others were forced to take other jobs. But she owned an > apartment building in Harrisburg and she also had a son in Houston > who was earning into seven figures in real estate so she had no > worries. Her lawyer told her that he never had a case so easy to > win before ... the state had lowered the average age of the > department by something like 10 years. Just before she won, she > took a clerk's job in the department from which she had been fired. > And when the settlement came through, suddenly that clerk's pay was > elevated to the roof. She was upper management and it was back > dated. The others in her class action suit had intermediate > earnings deducted but she had no outside earnings except for that > piddling little state job at the end.> > Now let's let the other shoe drop. Her biggest defense was the > union. Why? Why would the union defend management. Because > Ginny was no dummy. All the years she worked for the state, she > voluntarily paid union dues just to support the union. Then when > they tried to clean house, the unions were her strongest defenders. > They hired the best lawyers money could buy to support her, a lady > who had been in upper management!> > But it didn't end there. She had a year less than she needed when > they fired her to retire with full pension. Now she had two more > years state service. So she tried, in accordance with rules, to buy > her California teaching time into the Pennsylvania pension system. > They blocked her again. She sued again. The courts ruled that the > laws were there for everyone, not just the political friends. The > state paid for her attorney and court costs. She bought back the > time she had in California, retired, and moved back to California.> > Yellow book.com shows a Sacramento phone listing.... Maybe I > should call and say hello.> > On Nov 11, 2007, at 9:07 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:> > > Local 328 of the Amalgamated Transit Union is half the problem in > > Cleveland. The other half of the problem is the band of New World > > Order henchmen otherwise known as RTA Upper Management. Annually we > > (ATU 328 members) pay about $650.00 in dues and assessments to the > > union. Every year the union gives us a turkey for Thanksgiving. > > Thus, for the small payment of $650.00 we get a turkey to roast and > > get to watch ten 'turkeys' trying to run a union.> > Jim Holland <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com> wrote:> > Push for your Union to make changes so you can choose Shaker and not> > lose snority.> >> >> >> >> >> >> > Herb Brannon> >> >> > 
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