US. The Constitution can’t protect underfunded public pensions
Government-employee unions won in a landslide last week, defeating New York’s ballot question to update the state constitution by 78 percent to 16 percent. Public-sector groups were worried that any changes would imperil their pensions, which the constitution guarantees.
But public-sector workers should worry less about words and more about numbers. Whenever anyone writes that public-sector pensions are unsustainable, New York union leaders have a rejoinder: The constitution guarantees them. Such benefits, according to the document, “shall be a contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
Unions are wary of any threat to this. “The best way to protect our pensions is to defeat the initial [Con-Con]question when it appears on the November ballot,” the United Federation of Teachers counseled in January. “Be ready to fight for your own interests.”
Read more @New York Post
