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July 30, 2022

Comments

Joe

Since we are on the Friends with Benefits thread here, let's recall FDR first:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt opposed unions for government workers because the employer and workers would essentially be on the same side of the bargaining table. Politicians would have an incentive to give workers what they want, and taxpayers would have no one representing their interests in negotiations.

That sentiment ties to local news this week as the rangers look for a sweeeeet package of benefits:

Labor negotiations concerning retirement plans for 28 Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District rangers have reached an impasse, according to the rangers’ newly formed bargaining group.

The group claims the rangers, who patrol the district’s 65,000 acres of preserves in the Santa Cruz Mountains region and San Mateo County coastside, are being denied appropriate retirement plans given the dangers faced on the job. The rangers are being unjustly required to work until 62 instead of 55 to reach full retirement benefits.
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Yep, 55! That would be sweeeeet. But there's more about "safety" classifications:


And Midpeninsula ranger duties include those things — wildland firefighting, responding to medical emergencies and law enforcement actions including making arrests, according to the district’s description of the job.
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So one might ask how many rangers are there, how many wildfires have they picked up an axe or hose to fight and how many arrests have they made? All of that is missing in the DJ article, but we do get this:

“The [district] will not bargain on it, they will not discuss it, they will not allow it to be in any proposals,” said Alexander Hapke, a lead ranger with the district and president of the labor representation group. He said because the rangers are first responders, striking is not an option.

“All we can do is tell the public that they are treating us in this manner, because there’s nothing that we can do to stop them,” he said.
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Well, I consider myself alerted and I don't think the ranger job qualifies for a super-early retirement benefit. In fact, how about giving the taxpayers a break and taking it up to 65 when Medicare kicks in?

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/midpeninsula-regional-open-space-district-talks-at-an-impasse/article_9b1303d2-0fb9-11ed-8ce0-3f20b83862a6.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1659189624&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Phinancier

Even the French are raising their public servant retirement age. THE FRENCH!!! 55 is the new 45 so let's get those Rangers working. I mean really. Talk about a comfortable job. I wish I had known about it when I was in my twenties.

Joe

The latest long-view of returns (or is it long-faced returns) for Calpers courtesy of today's WSJ:


The nation’s largest pension fund got a scathing performance review Monday when its new investment chief highlighted the retirement system’s underperforming returns and estimated it missed out on $11 billion in gains during a “lost decade” for private equity.

The unusually candid presentation to board members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as Calpers, showed returns lagging behind other large pensions in almost every asset class during the past 10 years, with private equity trailing the most, 1.3 percentage points.

In each year between 2009 and 2018, the presentation showed, Calpers put $5 billion or less in new money into private equity, an asset class that public pension funds have relied on heavily in recent years to amp up returns.

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