Chair Talk
June 2011
It has been a very busy month of May in the political world of Lansing and State politics. I will not dwell on what has been going on as Mary Pollock ’s (SERA ’s Legislative Representative) Capitol News is very thorough and details the activity in the Capitol.
On Thursday, June 2nd at the Executive Committee meeting we received an update from Nicole Literacki and Heather Travis about the upcoming SECC (State Employees Charitible Campaign) 2011 campaign. The State Retiree portion of the 2011 Campaign (Tradition of Giving) will kick-off on July 1st. We are looking forward to working with Nicole and Heather to increase the participation of retirees in this great cause. Chapter Presidents will be receiving information about the Campaign either through e-mail, or mail contacts from the SECC. If you would like to invite Nicole or Heather to your Chapter meetings you can make those arrangements with them when you receive the information about the campaign.
On Friday, June 3rd, I was invited to speak at the State NARFE (National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association) in East Tawas, MI. I was asked to discuss the recently passed pension tax bills. Retired Federal employees will also have to begin paying state income tax on their pensions. Federal active/retirees are the 3rd largest group of public employees in this state (we are the 4th largest group). They were interested in hearing what our plans were and are supportive of our intentions to sue the State on the constitutionality of the new law. We had a very spirited discussion about the new law and its effect on public employees/retirees.
We are still seeking to increase our ranks with dues-paying State retirees. If you know of any State retirees that are not SERA members please talk to them about joining our organization. We need as many members as we can get to join SERA and support our cause to protect our pensions and benefits. It seems that every week for the past couple of months there has been legislation introduced that will have dramatic/negative effects on all State employees and retirees. We need to be very diligent in our efforts to protect ourselves.
If you are not a SERA member — join now!!!!!
Editor’s note: Bob Kopasz is Chair of the Michigan SERA Council. He may be reached at P.O. Box 692, Mt. Morris, MI 48458; phone 810/240-8380.