Tier VI is almost here and city unions are scrambling to reach members who have yet to join the pension system.
The pitch seems simple: join now and get into Tier IV or wait and get diminished benefits.
District Council 37 has mounted an aggressive campaign to get more members to join by the March 31 deadline.
Some of the lower-paid city workers, such as school lunch aides and certain hospital employees, have been reluctant to take any of their meager salaries and devote them to pensions, according to DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
Many of those workers make under $20,000 a year.
“A lot of them say they will wait until they make more money,” said Roberts. “Then they buy-back.”
“We’re telling them they can’t wait around unless they want to pay more and work longer,” she added.
Gov. Cuomo and state legislators reached an agreement on a new pension tier that will require some future civil servants to contribute more to their pensions and work longer before being able to retire.
Tier VI will cover some new workers and current workers who apply after April 1 to be part of the pension system.
Roberts said she thinks the message is getting through.
“They know you can’t wait around because you will end up paying more and working longer,” she said. “They are desperate. You can’t even get though on the phone lines to the pension system.”
Completed forms need to be delivered by March 31. For more information check out the DC 37 website at www.dc37.net.
———————————————————— City workers will be the focus of a number of activities at the Staten Island Children’s Museum during the month of April.
The FDNY Smokehouse and a firetruck will be at the museum on Fri. April 6.
April 21 is NYPD day where kids can meet real police officers and make their own shields.
And every Friday visitors can enjoy “firehouse favorites” during Kidz Cook.
Events are being sponsored throughout the month by the Municipal Credit Union. MCU members are entitled to free admission on April 28 and 29th.
For more information go to the museum’s website: www.statenislandkids.org or call (718) 273-2060.
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New York City Firefighter Bobby Horvath saves lives on and off the job.
When he is not working out of Engine 264/Ladder 134 in Far Rockaway, the licensed wildlife rehabilitator rescues all kinds of winged and four-legged creatures.
On Saturday, friends and supporters are hosting a benefit for his non-profit group Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation.
The benefit, titled a Wild Nite for Wildlife, is being held at Callahan’s, 1964 Hempstead Tpke. in East Meadow, L.I., starting at 8 p.m.
For more information or to donate, contact WINORR at (516) 293-0587 or write to WINORR, 202 N. Wyoming Avenue, N. Massapequa, N.Y. 11758.
lcolangelo@nydailynews.com
