Legislative Alert: March 6, 2026

President's Message: Workers Stand Together for Pension Reform 

This Sunday, thousands of public sector workers from across New York State will gather in Albany to send a clear message: It’s time to fix the Tier 6 pension system.

Traditionally, a career in public service would guarantee a secure retirement, fair wages, and quality benefits. However, since its implementation in 2012, Tier 6 has significantly reduced pension benefits while requiring public sector employees to contribute more while earning less than their counterparts performing the same job under previous tiers.

Tier 6 was sold as a savings for taxpayers, but within a short amount of time that proved to be untrue. Vacant jobs are now endemic across State, local and public school employers; and often when positions are filled, the employee leaves within a short time. This recruitment and retention problem has led to a decline in the quality of public services, and it is eroding the value that taxpayers expect.

Meanwhile, to deliver basic services the State and localities have had to rely on dramatic increases in mandatory overtime. This has incurred billions in additional costs that offset much of the savings Tier 6 supposedly generated. Not only are the public sector workers paying more for less, but so are taxpayers.

The rally on Sunday is a call to address these inequalities to stabilize the workforce and to restore parity for public employees in Tiers 5 and 6 with those in Tier 4.

New York State must act now to fix Tiers 5 and 6 to ensure they work effectively for both the current and future public workforce.

Mario Cilento, President 

Upcoming Meeting

LABOR LOBBYISTS MEETING 
Monday, March 9, 2026, 1 p.m. 
This meeting will be located at the Albany office of the NYS AFL-CIO, 
100 South Swan St. Albany, NY. This meeting is for labor representatives only. 
Please RSVP to Nagma Singh at [email protected] 

INFRASTRUCTURE MEETING 
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 1 p.m. 
This meeting will be located at the Albany office of the NYS AFL-CIO, 
100 South Swan St. Albany, NY.  
This meeting is for labor representatives only. 
Please RSVP to Nagma Singh at [email protected]