SACRAMENTO -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) today launched a new Web site called my|CalPERS that allows CalPERS members to access their personal account information and to manage their retirement, health benefits, and financial planning needs. my|CalPERS is a fabulous customer service enhancement for CalPERS members," said CalPERS Chief Executive Officer Fred Buenrostro. It allows members to get their own information from their service credit years, to their current mailing address on file, to information about the health plans they've chosen. Members can also change their mailing address and obtain a retirement benefit estimate." With my|CalPERS, active and retired CalPERS members can instantly and independently get the information they need and conduct CalPERS transactions online. my|CalPERS puts members in control because they can conveniently access and view their personal CalPERS information online anytime, anywhere. my|CalPERS allows members to track the status of their CalPERS transactions such as service credit purchases and disability retirement applications, along with accessing the most current information in their account. The site also provides news updates, CalPERS Member Home Loan rates, and the asset value of the CalPERS pension fund. The launch of my|CalPERS establishes the platform for future CalPERS online member self services, a part of CalPERS effort to improve customer service by making more products and services available online. Additional features will be added over the next year. To use my|CalPERS or get more information about CalPERS, visit the CalPERS On-Line Web site at www.calpers.ca.gov. CalPERS, with more than $245 billion in assets, is the largest public pension fund in the U.S., administering retirement and health benefits on behalf of 2,600 California State and local government employers for 1.5 million active and retired California public employees and their families.
John Lockhart Steely was laid to rest on Tuesday, April 12th at Mt. Vernon Memorial Park at 8201 Greenback Lane, Fair Oaks. Remembrances may be made to the Firefighters Burn Institute.
John Steely, a member of Local 522's Executive Board's address to the Sacramento City Council on October 1, 1970:
"For a number of years, gentlemen I was Secretary-Treasurer of the Sacramento Fire Fighters and for the majority of those years I was chairman of our salary commitee and involved in other efforts which we now call negotiations. Out of my experience during those years, there has emerged what I think are several basic trusts which should always be postulated as the basis for any honest and fair wage and hour negotiating procedures in City service. I would like to read them to you, one by one, as they have evolved.
1. Providing honest wages and working hours constitutes the normal cost of doing City business.
2. If city employees are to be considered not to have the right to strike, then the City has reciprocal duty not to take advantage of this fact.
3. To the extent a public employee is underpaid or is required to work excessive hours, he is compelled to contribute an amount of unpaid labor to the cost of government in addition to his regular taxes, and in effect, subsidize the taxpayer at large.
4. This is very important! To be fair, salaries and other working conditions must be geared to an external, objective, constant standard, whether you call it a formula or compulsary arbitration or whatever, which completely renders salaries immune from political pressures, so that at all times the administration, the public, and the employees know wehre they stand. As a corollary to this, I should saly, that on the employees' side, at all times it should be their practice to make their demands reasonable; and it has been our practice of the fire fighters to make demands which are fair and can be substantiated by the facts.
5. This is an important truth which is very seldom recognized by people in city service -- it is not the fire fighters, councilmen, or personnel officers who determine a fire fighter's duties. It is the nature of fire itself which dictates the terms of that employment.
Now, with respect with that last observation, I want to say to you that it is a source of great discomfort to us to be hired by the City of Sacramento to work in it's fire department on the terms of employment that the city itself requires, which may or may not include fighting fires one percent of the time, or doing this or doing that as some bright, eager, ambitious personnel officers like to dissect our job and break it down to the various things. The City hires us to be full-time and full-paid fire fighters; and as long as you get the full value of our time, you are obligated to pay us for the full time. It doesn't make a bit of difference if fires never occur at all. If you hire us on those terms, you'll pay us. It is just like your policy of fire insurance. You don't say I"ll pay the premiums every ten years because we might have a fire once in ten years. Either you pay it all the time or you don't get protection.
Now I want to say to you that things are at a very serious turn with reference to the fire fighters state of mind and the City of Sacramento. We are not happy with cerain conditions and we are resolved to do something about them.
In the last few hours we have been insulted, we have been betrayed, we have been maligned by statements that have been issued from this City Hall. Such things as that we will "turn in false alarms" and "hire good squad fire fighters from Oakland" to come up here and do dirty work. You have insulted us and every fire fighter in the State of California. I want to say to you that we do have friends in the fire service throughout the State and every fire fighter in this county is a friend. If things come to the worst, I am sure that we can rely upon their friendship.
You speak of loyalty. We speak of loyalty. We think of it day and night when we slog in the muck and everything else to put out every spark and every piece of horse manure to prevent a rekindle. We think of loyalty, we act. But our people know the difference between loyalty and submission to exploitation, submission to tyranny, to have the product of our labor extorted and unpaid, and I have been commissioned to tell you in no uncertain language, that we have come to the point beyond which we will tolerate no more of the insults and no more of the impasse.
There is yet time, if you move quickly, for minds to meet on the field of reason. We feel that it is your duty as the governing body of this city to ascertain independently for yourselves, the honest facts relative to the situation of wages and to our requests as to a reduction in hours and holidays. You can do it in two hours on the telephone by calling the personnel offices in the 15 cities we were formerly compared with or the six cities you compare us with now, to determine what holidays their people enjoy and what they are paid, or will be paid, in the near future. Perhaps it is on the file in your personnel office this minute. But if you do not move, and we feel the onus is upon you if you do not, I have been instructed to tell you that the Sacramento Fire Fighters of Local 522 stand poised on the brink of the Rubicon and we intend to cross.
Change Limit from 960 Hours in Calendar Year to 960 Hours in Fiscal Year
Effective January 1, 2006, the Legislature has changed the law (Statutes of 2005, Chapter 238, Assembly Bill 1166) that allows a state agency or public agency covered by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to employ a retired person without reinstatement from retirement or loss or interruption of benefits. Currently, a retired person may be temporarily employed for 960 hours in any calendar year without reinstatement. The change allows a retired person to be temporarily employed for 960 hours in any fiscal year without reinstatement. The Public Employee's Retirement Law defines fiscal year to mean any year commencing on July 1st and ending with June 30th next following.
The change will take effect on January 1, 2006, midway through the fiscal year. The following provides the maximum hours a state agency or public agency may temporarily employ a retired person without reinstatement from retirement or loss or interruption of benefits:
January 1, 2006 through June 30, 2006 960 hours maximum
July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 960 hours maximum
Future fiscal years 960 hours maximum
Other Recent Changes in the Law
Unemployment Insurance
Effective January 1, 2005, Government Code section 21224 (Statutes of 2004, Chapter 398, Senate Bill 1439) was amended to preclude a retired annuitant from returning to employment if, during the 12-month period prior to the appointment, the retired annuitant received unemployment insurance based on employment as a retired annuitant.
A retired person who accepts temporary appointment within 12 months of receiving unemployment insurance as described, must terminate employment on the last day of the current pay period. Further, that person will not be eligible for reappointment as a retired annuitant for 12 months following the last day of employment. A violation of this provision does not require mandatory reinstatement from retirement nor reimbursement of the system.
Requirements for Bona Fide Separation in Service
Effective January 1, 2004, Government Code section 21220.5 was added to the Public Employee's Retirement Law to require that a person who has not attained normal retirement age is required to have a bona fide separation in service before working after retirement without reinstatement or loss or interruption of benefits. The CalPERS Board of Administration subsequently adopted regulations which defined "normal retirement age" and "bona fide separation in service." Those regulations are at California Code of Regulations, title 2, sections 586 - 586.2. Please see Circular Letter 200-181-04 for details about the bona fide separation in service requirements.
For additional information concerning retiree employment, please review the information under Employment after Retirement available on the CalPERS Web site at www.calpers.ca.gov. If you have additional questions, please telephone the Employer Contact Center at 888 CalPERS (or 888-225-7477).
November has been a busy month at City Hall with most, actually all the speculation and rumors revolving around our City Manager Bob Thomas.Love him or hate him when you retire the one thingyou leave is a legacy, your mark so to speak, so that the future can reference the work that has marked your career.Rather than dwell on past hot topic issues like the Golf Cart Barn, the failedDowntown Arena Project, or the rumored over-payments to a developer regarding a project in Natomas, I’ll keep my eye focused on the Fire Department and how we have fared during the tenure of Bob Thomas.
My exposure to the City Manager came very early in my term as President of Local 522.I had heard the stories and opinions from many but decided to form my own opinions through working with City Management.I put myself in a position to work with the City Manager on several issues.The issues were not that significant, what most of us would consider fluff; in fact I can’t really recall them.But they allowed me to at least have a working relationship with the City Manager. I never felt that Bob considered Local 522 anything more than a nuisance or an obstacle.
The first real issue for Local 522 started in Natomas with the lack of fire protection.Then Vice President Keith Gault and Executive Board Member Jay Coon began a quest to force the City to acknowledge the problem and correct it.The Local began a relationship with ACS Quantum Strategies and the citizens of Natomas.The City Manager and his staff were not supportive of building and staffing a fire station in North Natomas.Local 522 was able to build a coalition with Councilman Ray Tretheway and the citizens of North Natomas.After months of hard work, debates and meeting with the public, Local 522 was able to get the fire station built and staffed with an Engine and Medic, and the promise of a Truck in summer of 2005.We have yet to see Truck 30 put in service, although we have been assured it will be on line by December 2005.
Several issues also developed during the Station 30 campaign; first the Station 6 investigation began to surface, and the need to have a change in leadership for the Fire Department.This was also around the time the City Manager began to get very active in reducing the staffing within the Fire Department.His idea began quietly with the so-called Flexible Staffing Plan; the lackey sent around to promote the idea was Deputy City Manager Richard Ramirez.The City carried the staffing plan right into contract negotiations, which was their plan all along.I credit the City Manager with realizing his best choice for Fire Chief was already within the ranks of the Fire Department.Rightly so the City Manager named Julius “Joe” Cherry the next Fire Chief of the Sacramento Fire Department.Every member of Local 522 breathed a sigh of relief and felt we were headed in the right direction.
Chief Cherry was handed the reins of a Department that had been neglected for several years, morale was at it’s lowest, the financial condition was flat and had been for years, with demands for service ever increasing, and a budget that had remain the same or had very little increase.The infrastructure was in a shambles, with fire stations crumbling and vermin infested.Our apparatus was in disrepair, and our safety equipment was in tatters.On top of a Department in disrepair, we compounded the problem by having some significant on-duty behavior problems.
The City Manager and previous Fire Chief Dennis Smith did attempt to update our Engines and Trucks and the City Manager was very proud that he had secured millions of dollars to replace an aging and unserviceable fire apparatus fleet.What he failed to acknowledge is that the neglect of the Fire Department fleet was his fault.He told the City Council he had poured millions into the Fire Department updating the apparatus, when I pointed out to him that replacing Fire Apparatus was not a luxury, but basic equipment to do our jobs.Still he was not deterred, and fleecing of the Fire Department Budget continued.
The City has been supplementing the Fire Department budget through the ALS fund since its inception.The ALS service provided to the City has not had one improvement since it was started.The City has been using the ALS fund for years to fund different programs within the Fire Department, in doing that the City can decrease general fund money to the Fire Department budget and remain status quo by using the ALS fund to back fill the Fire Department budget.Currently the ALS delivery system within the City of Sacramento is one of the busiest in the state, and yet it remains almost exactly as it was when it began.
This brings me to our contract arbitration, after months of fruitless negotiating, the City never once brought forth a proposal that could be considered fair, (remember the most ever offered was 2%).The arbitration was a battle in which we kicked the City Team around the room, never once were we out maneuvered.We had not only the answers and responses but we had the correct information.So how did we lose?We lost because Bob Thomas and the City settled the SPOA contract before we closed out our arbitration.
The City Manager had orchestrated the outcome of our arbitration, and he was able to make it public using our good friends at the Sacramento Bee.Once the SPOA contract was settled our arbitration was doomed.Not only was he able to manipulate the outcome of our arbitration, he was able to use our staffing against us.The arbitrator Norman Brand was so befuddled he lowered himself to disregard the evidence presented to him, and came up with his own lame excuses to award Local 522 with the same minimal package that was given to the SPOA.
With the Local 522 arbitration award and the SPOA contract settled, Bob Thomas effectively made the City of Sacramento Fire Fighters the lowest compensated work force in the region.This at a time when revenues are up and the City could afford to compensate its public safety employee’s with competitive wages and benefits.I should have seen what the City Manager was doing behind the scenes, but I didn’t.I missed it.We were too wrapped up in the arbitration and sabotaging/defeating the Flexible Staffing plan to see it coming.So in the end it comes to what we have.We fought hard, we worked the political system, we over came adversity, but just didn’t quite prevail.
Bob Thomas left the Sacramento Fire Department in worse condition then he found it in; the apparatus he replaced was in desperate condition, the fire stations replaced were just old dilapidated facilities that needed to be replaced.The current apparatus fleet is also in poor condition, from engines that won’t go into pump, to ambulances that spend more time in the shop than on the road.The City Manager has allowed the staffing level to get so low that mandatory holdovers are every day occurrences.I believe his only regret will be that his career has ended before he could take another run at reducing the Fire Department staffing.
The City Manager’s total control style will be felt for years to come.The Fire Department Administration won’t make a move unless Labor Relations gives them the okay.The head of Labor Relations Dee Contreras sets the tone.The plaque on her office wall says it all.It’s from her staff congratulating Dee “Union Buster” Contreras for some past triumph.
Bob’s last coup was his separation package.I can understand the $80,000 buyout; I think that’s good business and would be beneficial to the City to get the transformation underway quickly.But what I can’t understand is the 10% salary increase retroactive to July.And if you go back to the October before that Bob got an 8.3% increase, that’s over 18% in two years!! The City Council unanimously approved these raises.The reasons given are exactly the ones the Local was forced go to arbitration over!!The message the Council has sent is that it will take care of top administrators regardless of how those administrators treat employees.
Councilman Tretheway should be ashamed of himself, Ray tripped all over himself to defend the very man that adamantly opposed increasing fire protection to his council district.I take personal offense at Ray’s comments that the City Manager handled union contracts smoothly and was able to hire more police officers.Truck 30 is still not in service and it’s yet to be seen if the Fire Department will make the December deadline.
If cutting retiree health is the ear mark of a smooth operator than I guess Bob’s been pretty smooth.Under Bob Thomas’s tenure retiree’s are portrayed as a debit, a hindrance and waste of money.During our negotiations and arbitration the City tried to eliminate retiree health coverage.In fact the City was able to eliminate out-of-area coverage for retiree’s, with the exception of Local 522 retiree’s.This is the prevailing attitude coming out of the manager’s office and Labor Relations.
This is Bob Thomas’s legacy as I see it.He was a master at working the system, divide and conquer, knowledge is power, diverting attention, moving in the shadows.He was an expert at playing a nine-handed poker game.He played in the game and dealt the cards. He alone knew all the cards each player was holding.He pitted each against the other, always having instilled just the right amount of fear into each player so that no player asked for more cards unless he gave the nod.He convinced the players that they won or lost based on his power.He convinced his Bosses that they worked for him.And they bought it until November 2005.One of the nine called his hand and he found himself holding aces and eights, the outcome for him was the same as it was for Wild Bill.
Bob did do one better than Wild Bill, even after he lost his hand and as he fell from his chair he convinced the other players to ante up one more time.And they did quietly and without discussion.And as Bob rode off into the sunset the nine card players stumble all over themselves to wave goodbye.
