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Important Retirement News for AME Members!
6/21/2010 9:00:00 AM
- Cheryl A. Felice, President
County Executive Levy has put forth his own proposal to adopt the Early Retirement Incentive package – but not in the full context as it was provided by our New York State legislators.
Although Levy plans to put an emergency resolution before the County Legislature on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, He has decided to bar those workers in public safety jobs (those who are 50% or more reimbursed), as well as nursing home and consumer affairs positions – from taking part! Levy has also limited the backfilling of jobs vacated to 20%, which indicates the County’s short staffing problem will worsen.
While Suffolk County AME continues to monitor all levels of government in order to provide immediate and accurate information which would be of special interest to our AME members, we cannot predict the mean-spiritedness of Levy’s continual actions against his hard-working and dedicated workforce!
When we announced the parameters of eligibility on our AME website (dated June 2, 2010), you can be sure our legal team carefully reviewed the state legislation in order to verify our own accuracy in reporting the long-awaited ERI news to our Union members. The legislation allowed the County Executives across the state to make their own decisions regarding eligibility. However, Levy made changes that affect a substantial portion of his County workforce!
Also on the side of despicable is that although the state has left the “window of retirement” opportunity anywhere from August 31st through December 31, 2010 - Levy has set the county’s deadline of August 31, 2010 – which is an additional insurmountable obstacle he has placed before county workers. Workers seeking to retire under this early retirement incentive must first be interviewed by the New York State Retirement office; however, due to this state-wide early retirement program, the state retirement offices are so backed up – they are unable to accommodate the number of workers seeking retirement – by August 31, 2010!
Although AME applauds our New York State Senate and Assembly members for recognizing the needs of the municipal workers throughout New York State during this difficult economic time, we are extremely disappointed that Levy would pursue such a punitive action against his own county workforce.
AME will continue to work alongside our County Legislature tomorrow, Tuesday, June 22, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. at the Legislative Meeting in Riverhead to represent the needs and wants of our entire Union membership to achieve an early retirement incentive that will encompass all of our AME County workers. If you want to attend to voice your opinion, please join AME in doing so!
We will keep you informed – please continue to monitor your AME website.