http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-march4oct30,0,1352156.story
By Zach Lowe
Staff Writer
October 30, 2004
STAMFORD -- About 200 police officers and members of the city's largest labor union rallied outside the Stamford Government Center yesterday to protest a ballot proposal that would give the mayor and 17 other nonunion city employees access to the union's pension plan.
The group marched down Washington Boulevard at about 10:30 a.m., chanting, "No on No. 8," a reference to the pension proposal that will be the eighth of 10 proposed Charter revisions listed on Tuesday's ballot.
They marched in front of the Government Center for about half an hour before stopping for a brief speech interrupted every so often by the blare of police sirens from passing patrol cars signaling their support.
"These are your pensions and you earned them," said Officer Michael Merenda, president of the Stamford Police Association, the police union that organized the march along with United Auto Workers.
The group marched through downtown Stamford handing out fliers showing a picture of Mayor Dannel Malloy wearing a computer-generated witch's hat.
The image was flanked by the message, "Don't let politicians trick you on Nov. 2."
Malloy has said he won't comment on the proposed pension fund changes and is trying to stay out of Charter revision debates. He said last week that there is no role for the mayor in Charter revision except as a voter.
Merenda accused the city of "deceiving" voters by using vague language to describe the meaning of the proposal.
The question asks voters, "Shall there be changes to Part 7, Pensions, of the Charter of the City of Stamford to make it conform to current practices and labor law?"
The revision would allow the mayor, cabinet members, the town and city clerk and other high-ranking nonunion employees to buy into the Classified Employees' Retirement Fund, CERF.
CERF is mostly limited to retired city employees, excluding police officers, firefighters and some Board of Education employees.
The Republican Town Committee, which has about 40 members, also passed a resolution against the proposal, Chairman Daniel McCabe said.
UAW President Gloria Kelley said union members are worried that top city officials, several of whom make more than $100,000, will end up draining the fund.
"We don't want to see the fund bled dry," said Todd Johnson, a member of the Teamsters Local 145 union and an employee of the city's highway department.
Several UAW members complained that the city did not conduct a study to explore the impact the change might have on the pension fund.
"Anytime we ask for a cost-of-living increase for our retirees, the city tells us to do a cost analysis," said Paul Vakos, head custodian at the city Office of Facilities Management. "I don't see anyone doing a cost analysis on this."
A member of the Charter Revision Committee has said the intent of the change is to offer nonunion city employees a pension because the city has lost employees by not offering the benefit.
The Board of Representatives approved the wording of the Charter revision questions, said Mary Fedeli, R-17, a member of the board's Charter Revision Committee.
Fedeli said she is surprised by the opposition, since the nonunion employees will have to pay the total amount of money they would have paid had they been enrolled since they began working for the city.
"I don't understand what the big deal is," Fedeli said. "These people have to write a check to the city to buy in."
Other board members said they did not understand the implications of the proposal when they approved it.
"I knew they would be drawing a pension, but I didn't know they'd be able to draw on the CERF for the rest of their lives," said Robert "Gabe" DeLuca, R-14. "Some of us understood it and some of us didn't."
City Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, stopped by the rally and talked with union members about the proposal.
"We really weren't aware of the consequences," Zelinsky said. "After I read about it in the paper, I'm supportive of the union's position."
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