Following is an excerpt from a statement by Eileen Kirlin, SEIU international executive vice president, regarding a new report released this week by the Pew Center on the States that uses data from two years ago to paint an inaccurate picture of the condition of public pension funds:
“It’s critical for policy makers to have accurate, up-to-date data on pension funds as they consider the impact that proposals for drastic pension reform will have on hardworking families.
“Pensions keep hardworking people out of poverty during their retirement. All working people should have the promise of security in their later years. But the nation is on the verge of a retirement crisis due to the breakdown of our retirement system. We can neither continue to brush off this crisis nor ignore research showing that many of the draconian reforms to pension systems are often politically motivated and would have unintended negative consequences on taxpayers.”
Read the full statement here.
