Stealing Your Retirement

March-April, 2005 International Fire Fighter

President George W. Bush is currently touring the country touting his “ownership society” proposal to privatize Social Security. A spokesperson was recently quoted (Boston Globe, 3/7/05) to say that forcing public employees into mandatory Social Security coverage “may be part of a final solution” and that “the president would be open to it.”

In March, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to New York City and Washington, DC to meet with bankers and Wall Street mavens in an effort to raise millions to run an ad campaign supporting his plan to shut down the public employee defined benefit pensions in his state in favor of defined contribution plans.

Legislators on Capitol Hill are discussing ways to force fire fighters into mandatory coverage by Social Security. Wall Street firms and K Street lobbyists are spending tens of millions to buy the support of lawmakers to have money that now goes into Social Security diverted into “investment savings accounts” that are controlled by massive brokerage houses.

I don’t need to tell you that this adds up to one hell of an orchestrated attack on your future. It has brought together the biggest financial institutions in the world and pro-business politicians at every level of government. Their mission is to steal at least a chunk of your retirement and put it into their already bloated coffers.

What they won’t tell you is that someone will have to pay for this elaborate scheme to privatize Social Security. And their plan is to have America’s workers pay by giving away a portion of their Social Security, and to have IAFF members pay by forcing you into mandatory Social Security coverage.

The good news is that many of the attacks have fallen flat in public opinion polls. Even with all of the spin coming from the White House and its mouthpieces in conservative “think tanks” across the country, the public has not bought into the notion that there is a crisis with the Social Security system.

People across the country seem to understand that we have time to fix Social Security the right way, rather than by slashing benefits, forcing public safety workers into mandatory coverage and giving billions to Wall Street.

The same is true in California, where after launching his attack on defined benefit pensions for fire fighters and other public employees — in favor of 401(k)-style retirement plans — the “Governator’s” approval rating dropped from 65 percent in September to 55 percent today.

Furthermore, 53 percent believe California is on the wrong track, up from 38 percent in September (LA Times, 3/3/05). But even with this news, we need to be ready to give people the facts to protect your retirement.

We need to tell people that the Social Security privatization plan that’s being pushed would blow up the deficit with an additional $4.9 trillion in debt — much of which will be owed to foreign countries like China and Japan. We need to spread the message that every single city, county or school district with a pension plan will be forced to pay huge start-up costs for the new plan.

We must make sure our members know that if you are forced into mandatory coverage, it will mean an immediate 6.2 percent tax increase as fire fighters have to contribute to Social Security. And it will mean that cash-strapped jurisdictions will have to contribute 6.2 percent of payroll to Social Security.

You tell me, will your city or town be able to afford to pay for both Social Security and continue funding what you have earned in your defined benefit pension plan? My guess is no. And with less money on hand, where do you think your jurisdiction will look to cut?

We need to be ready to tell people that Schwarzenegger’s plan — and the plan other states will follow if he succeeds — will take away death and disability benefits for fire fighters injured or killed in the line of duty.

The IAFF is prepared for this fight. We have put a plan in place at the national, state and local levels. We have our troops in position and have begun our initial attack.

The IAFF is already engaged on Capitol Hill with lawmakers to let them know where we stand. And because of our bipartisan approach to politics, we have friends on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the political fence. And we intend to leverage every one of those relationships to protect your retirement.

Many of our affiliates at the state and local level are already fully engaged in the fight at their level. The California Professional Firefighters, for example, are dogging Governor Schwarzenegger as he tries to raise money across the country and have created alliances across their state to raise money to run ads of their own. Inside this edition of International Fire Fighter, we have outlined the facts behind the debate and our response to the attacks. I encourage you to read all of it and to get involved when your union calls on you for help in winning this fight.

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