Join the ‘Strengthening TRS: Our Pension System’ virtual town hall on Thurs, 5/2 at 5:30 PM
Join the ‘Strengthening TRS: Our Pension System’ virtual town hall on Thurs, 5/2 at 5:30 PM
RSVP: tinyurl.com/trsforum52
Please join an important conversation on Thursday regarding the state of our New York City Teacher Retirement System pension benefits.
There will be a virtual town hall centered around Strengthening TRS: Our Pension System. It will take place via Zoom on Thursday, 5/2 at 5:30 PM
RSVP here: www.tinyurl.com/trsforum52
Context: Both candidates running in next week’s important TRS trustee election have been invited to participate in this forum. The election will take place in our schools on Wednesday, May 8th.
The candidates, Christina McGrath and Ben Morgenroth will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and interact with the listening audience.
This election marks the first contested race for the TRS Pension Trustee position in over 30 years.
The NYC TRS serves over 200,000 members, including those from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA). The pension funds' total assets under management at the close of the 2023 fiscal year stand at over $253 billion.
The health and longevity of our pension relies on the three current teacher trustees, along with two mayoral appointees, the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) president, and the NYC Comptroller overseeing all our investments. These seven officials are supposed to ensure that our pension is sound and investments are thriving far into the future.
So, sign up now. Bring your general questions about the pension system and other related questions about their candidacy.
Please note, this forum will not be a space to service or provide personal pension consultations or personal financial advice.
The trustee position the candidates are running for entails overseeing the pension system itself and its assets, overall.
For personal consultation/pension benefits questions, go to: uft.org/your-benefits/pension
Editor’s note:
Here are some burning issues and questions we at EONYC hope are discussed at this virtual town hall:
The recently passed Tier 6 legislation only recovers a fraction of what we’ve lost. NYSUT estimates that it totals 100k in more earnings over a 40 year career. This is a good start but recent estimates show Tier 6 members lose much, much more.
Are you aware that Tier 6ers are still losing up to $1.4 million over their careers compared to Tier 4?
Are you aware that members of all tiers are losing up to 2 million dollars in their retirement earnings because of the 2009 Unity-UFT giveback that lowered our TDA rate to 7% from 8.25%? That other city employees still get the 8.25% TDA rate?
Did you know we now have to serve 15 years instead of 10 years like other city workers to be vested for retiree healthcare? Another Unity-UFT giveback.
Did you know the New York State Retirement System is nearly FULLY FUNDED at over 98%? But our NYC TRS has not been close to being fully funded in decades? Our pension’s funded ratio currently sits at around the 70% range.
Wouldn’t securing a fully funded pension system help in the fight to fix Tier 6 sooner than later?
Why are we increasing our private equity investments in NYCTRS when NYSTRS is lowering its risk in these investments due to higher risk and out of control administrative costs?
How do we lower/contain the nearly 2 billion dollars we pay yearly in administrative costs to Wall Street managers and make sure it goes back into our pensions? According a Bloomberg, “Fees paid by the city's five pensions rose 10%, faster than the growth rate of assets, according to the city's annual comprehensive financial report …"
Vote Ben for TRS
✅ Did you know for the first time in over 30 plus years there will be an election for Teacher-Member TRS trustee? And that it will take place at your school on May 8th?
✅ Both candidates were invited to take part in this forum. You deserve to hear from both, Christina McGrath and Ben Morgenroth.
✅ Vote for Ben on May 8! He’s the only candidate with financial and investment expertise and experience. He answers to you, not the political machine.
✅ Help spread the word to your UFT and CUNY colleagues and friends!
