The St. Thomas-St. John teachers union has rejected the retirement system's justification of huge salary increases for 18 high-level personnel and is considering taking legal action to stop the pay hikes.
According to one official, the union may also demand the resignation of the Government Employees Retirement System board members in hopes that a new board would roll back the increases, the Daily News reported Wednesday.
Glen Smith, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, said union members consider the raises imprudent. They also regard the full-page ads that GERS has placed in local papers as awaste of money.
Also at issue, Smith said, are the retroactive wages owed to AFT members.
GERS employees are receiving large pay increases while AFT members are still owed retroactive wages.
The Legislature had considered borrowing from GERS to pay the retroactive wages, but dropped the idea because of repeated warnings that the retirement system was already overburdened.
