July 26, 2015

Dear Local President,

We are writing you this letter to notify you of an ongoing pension concern at NY
SUT. It involves the NYSUT pension, not to be confused with the Teachers Retirem
ent System and ERS.
In January of 2016, the NYSUT officers were notified of a looming pension spike
for the NYSUT pension system that was extremely high. In late April of 2016, we
received a second report from our actuary that was even more damaging and the n
umbers have reached a point that absent action they could jeopardize the entire
organization. This is due to a series of events and circumstances that predate
our term in office and includes such factors as interest rates, the great recess
ion, mortality tables, the 2006 NYSUT-NEA merger, the fact that NYSUT has more r
etirees than active employees and the gap is growing.
Since learning about this issue the NYSUT officers have been working on a variet
y of different solutions. We ve studied the problem with our outside actuary and
investment firm. We ve been completely transparent with our employees, informed
the financial review committee, executive committee, the board of directors and
now we are informing you as a local president.
Over the last four months we ve
had meetings with NYSUT s own bargaining units to solicit input and advice on poss
ible fixes and earlier this month the NYSUT Board of Directors voted unanimously
to address this issue through the contractual bargaining process. This situati
on is a delicate one and we are asking that you refrain from commenting or havin
g discussion on social media. Later this summer and into the fall members of th
e Board of Directors and the Officers will be reaching out to give you a more de
tailed briefing.
There is some good news. Due to the diligence of the NYSUT officers, NYSUT staf
f and the Board of Directors in the last two years we ve taken NYSUT from a series
of record deficits to surpluses that are projected to hit $6.1 million this sum
mer. Due to our vigilance, our reserves have increased from $27 million to $40
million. We are in a financial position to weather the first few spikes. How
ever, this is no short term storm. If we change nothing, our reserves could be
depleted in as little as five years. Plugging holes with savings while not addr
essing the issues driving the costs will just continue to bleed our reserves unt
il they are gone. We must build a more sustainable system.
As a result, last week the NYSUT officers notified the NYSUT Board of Directors
of our willingness to significantly reduce our benefits. We deeply care about t
his union and believe that we should never ask an employee or member to make a s
acrifice without leading the way.
This is a significant challenge for our organization, but we have a history of t
ackling big problems. The way to handle these things is together
the Officers,
the Board of Directors, the managers and staff, the local leaders and rank and f
ile members; together we have taken on the big issues. Together, we ve changed th
e conversation about public education in the state legislature; with the regents
; at the United States Capital and at the White House. As an organization we do
n t avoid the difficult decisions or the tough fights. We meet them head on. Whi
le we didn t create this problem, it is incumbent upon us to solve it so that we c
an have a strong powerful NYSUT for generations to come. And solve it we will.
We will be reaching out in the coming weeks and months to keep you updated. In
the meantime if you have specific questions or concerns please feel free to emai
l or call us.

In Solidarity,