Reforming NYS pensions, Israel-Hamas war

Reform NY pension to retain workers

The Tier 6 pension system has become an impediment to recruiting and retaining public-sector workers throughout our state [“Say no to Tier 6 pension reform,” Editorial, April 3].

Public-sector staffing shortages have reached a crisis status, with employers at every government level sounding the alarm that they cannot recruit enough staff or encourage qualified individuals to stay.

The state has lost nearly 17,000 employees due to attrition since 2021. And taxpayers feel the pain. As a result, according to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, state government alone paid a record $1.3 billion in overtime in 2022.

The average pension of state and local government employees, outside of New York City, is just over $27,000. Unless jobs are made more attractive, we will continue struggling to recruit and retain workers, and vital public services will become less reliable.

Not having enough public-sector workers negatively impacts education, health care, transportation, sanitation, law enforcement, firefighters and government agency workers. These are vital public services that all New Yorkers, regardless of income status, rely upon daily.

State legislators must fix Tier 6 to protect our public services and maintain a standard of living and quality of life that 20 million New Yorkers have rightfully come to expect and deserve.

— Mario Cilento, Albany

The writer is president of the New York State AFL-CIO.

The editorial failed to mention how teachers in Tier 6, since 2012, are required to pay into their retirement fund every single year until they retire.

Someone I know pays $500 a month, and as the salary increases so does the contribution to the retirement plan, which caps at 6% of the salary. This fact was omitted.

Every prior tier stopped paying into the pension plan after 10 years. How is this fair, especially an inflationary economy, to require younger teachers with less income to pay $500 or more every single month of employment? That sum could at least help pay for part of the exorbitant rents on Long Island.

How about capping the contribution at even 15 years or, better yet, bringing it in line with all the other tiers?

— Susan Peterson Redmond, West Sayville

The editorial focuses on some Republicans’ support of Tier 6 reform although Democrats are in leadership positions. State Sen. Robert Jackson, a Democrat, chairs the Civil Service and Pensions Committee. He starts every speech by yelling out, “Tier 6 sucks!” and wears a T-shirt also sending that message.

Recruitment and retention are realities for unions, and both Republicans and leading Democrats are fighting for change.

— Peter A. Piciulo, Carle Place

The writer is president of the Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County.

Giving aid to Gaza — it’s complicated

So the U.N. is “ordering” Israel to improve the supply situation [“UN court steps in on Gaza aid,” World, March 29]. Sorry, but international humanitarian law doesn’t actually require that of Israel. If the U.N. wants to deliver more aid, it’s free to do so.

The problem is that given the U.N. admission that its own workers participated in acts of Hamas’ savagery on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on Oct. 7, it can’t be trusted.

As far as aid getting in, the U.N. has no means of guarding against the aid “disappearing” into the tunnels to supply Hamas leadership.

But international humanitarian law does require that hostages not be taken in the first place, and if they are, it requires they be released immediately. I’m not seeing the U.N. “ordering” Hamas to release the hostages. If the hostages are released and if Hamas leadership surrenders, the situation for Gazans would likely improve greatly.

— Leonard Cohen, Wantagh

Putting “child” on the list of things that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees as Hamas in a political cartoon is unconscionable [Opinion, April 3]. Israel is fighting an impossible war against terror, having experienced their own 9/11. Hamas has the same radical Islam ideology as al-Qaida and commits crimes against humanity in the most vicious fashion, with joy. They are today’s Nazis.

The United States didn’t stop its assault in World War II, and Israel can’t stop before its job is done. Hamas military dress as civilians, hide fighters and munitions in hospitals, kidnap civilians, and steal for themselves the aid the world sends.

At least two Hamas leaders are billionaires living in Qatar while they say Israel is starving their people. What army has ever had fewer casualties conducting targeted, specific operations?

The misinformation is abundant citing occupation and oppression of Gazans that didn’t exist. Hamas inflates casualty numbers as lies abound. Netanyahu is in an impossible situation of trying to save the hostages and destroy Hamas.

— Shelley Katz, Plainview