When New York state lowered the Final Average Salary calculation from five to three years for Tier 6 members in April, Brittany Dein and her mother Kathy Dein were cheering from the sidelines.
After all, it was their activism that helped NYSUT win the biggest pension reform in 20 years. The new calculation means Tier 6 members will receive a bigger pension check, every month, for life. It also gives Tier 6 members parity with Tiers 4 and 5 members — and parity is what it’s all about for the Deins.
Brittany, a social worker at Santapogue Elementary School and a member of the West Babylon Teachers Association, and her mother, Kathy Dein, an AIS math teacher at Parliament Place Elementary and president of the North Babylon Teachers Organization went door-to-door last summer as part of the Member Organizing Institute, campaigning for Tier 6 reform.
“A lot of Tier 6 members were not really paying attention to this issue yet,” Kathy, a Tier 4 member, recalled. “They are still early in their careers, and many of them were simply happy to have found a job. They did not know how bad it was.”
The mother-daughter duo did a lot of educating on the campaign trail, demonstrating how Tier 6 places an unfair burden on its newest educators because it forces them to pay into the system for their entire career as opposed to paying for just the first 10 years like Tier 4 does. The Deins also explained that Tier 6 members have to pay more as they earn more and ultimately work longer to earn a reduced pension benefit.
In fact, Tier 6 members cannot retire before age 63 without heavy penalties – and that was a real sticking point for Brittany.
“Forty years is not a realistic career length for this profession,” said Brittany, a Tier 6 member. She is afraid it will lead to burnout, worsened outcomes for students, and that it will chase away second-career prospects. “If you don’t start teaching until you are 30, then you are going to be working until you’re at least 73. That’s just not right,” she said.
“Longevity is also expensive,” Kathy pointed out. “The districts aren’t going to be able to afford to keep people for that long.”
Kathy’s main complaint about Tier 6 is the way that contributions to the pension system increase over time. “What bothers me is the way it punishes members. The more they make, the more they pay. They can’t get past it,” she said. These ever-increasing contributions jeopardize their quality of life and create a wedge between members because raises don’t mean the same thing for different tiers.
Both were thrilled to see the Tier 6 reform measure incorporated into the state budget in April but acknowledge that they must keep pushing to get the rest of the needed reforms.
“We have to have unity on this issue,” said Kathy. “We both have a strong union heart and any of the fights we fight, we fight together.”
Kathy said she has been proud to see her daughter’s development as a unionist during this push. “She recognizes that she has to be part of the solution and be a voice for the voiceless,” she said.