By Dustin Beilke
Since Governor Scott Walker released his budget “repair” bill proposal, WEAC leaders and staff have spoken with many WEAC-Retired members and active members about bill’s possible impact on current and future retirees.
Questions about effects on bargained retirement benefits are best answered by the professional staff members who work in the UniServ office where your contract was negotiated. This is true for retired members as well as active members who are considering retirement. WEAC.org has a listing of all of the state’s UniServ offices and the contact information for the men and women who work in them.
Many of us are also concerned about how the so-called repair bill and the budget itself could affect annuitants in the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and the health of WRS, Employee Trust Funds (ETF) and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.
ETF has produced a 10-page question-and-answer document to address these concerns. ETF’s website also has a link to a shorter document for active members who are considering retiring soon. Questions about either of these documents are best directed to ETF, and the toll-free telephone number there is 1-877-533-5020.
There is much fear and concern about what could happen to retiree benefits and WRS in future budgets and future sessions of the Legislature. The budget repair bill includes a directive to study the state retirement system and to analyze possibilities related to changing from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system. State law would need to be changed before such a change could occur and there is currently no such proposal to change state law for this purpose. There is also nothing in the bill that calls for privatization of the retirement system, another move that would require a change in state law.
WEAC will continue to monitor all proposed changes to the retirement system and will remain in frequent communication with the experts who run WRS. For e-mail updates, subscribe to the WEAC-Retired blog through this link.