City of Los Angeles and Coalition of LA Unions Conspire to keep Actuarial Study from reaching members prior to voting on contract.

Those are the latest accusations from employees forced to vote on ratifying there employment contracts.

Darren Whitfield a Spokesman for lacityworkers.com said, ” it’s inexcusable to force members to vote on an issue with such far reaching financial implications in complete ignorance of the full financial ramifications.”

Lacers has not responded for comment, CAO representatives were unavailable after numerous requests, the Mayors office was silent on the matter referring calls to the CAO’s office, and the Company performing the Actuarial Segal would only confirm that the Study was not near completion and had NO FURTHER COMMENT.

Actuarial Studies indicate such things as risk and financial viability. Assumptions used can change the outcome dramatically, currently the issue of Public Pension funds using a return formula that is twice the rate of private pension funds is under scrutiny and could be reduced to match the private sector. Most people in the private industry conclude that using such a generous formula puts the retirement systems at risk of future failure from lack of funding.

Formulas used to determine the actual cost are also the cause of controversy because of the ease with which they are manipulated. Previous studies from Segal have come under scrutiny for failing to account for more then 1 scenario.

LA union coalition members have been asked to vote without knowing the true cost of this plan and are ultimately responsible for repayment of the early retirement plan since the city has demanded it be cost neutral.

Under a worst case scenario city workers could be forced to pay up to 20% of there income towards this plan or take out loans in order to satisfy the repayment. These details seemed insignificant to mention to member’s as the only plan highlights were brief snippets of just how good the plan was. Current members have begun talking among themselves to determine a best course of action to prevent any plan such as this from getting a chance to see a vote without proper safeguards.

Some of the suggestions are .

City Clerk run Official Elections meeting the California, LA County , and City of La Election codes to prevent voter fraud
Forcing any retirement plan programs such as the ERIP to meet full disclosure laws similar to SEC regulations.
Independent Actuarial Studies.
Requirements to Force a 2/3 majority vote before retirement incentives are approved when membership is Liable.
Require Full Disclosure of Facts when sending items to a vote.
Require a change to the administrative code forcing any union representing Los Angeles City Workers to face a reduction in members dues if they face a salary reduction.

These ideas have been brought forward due to the overwhelming bias and fraud that is underway in the current election which brings comparison to Saddam Hussein’s regime where 100% of the population voted 100% in favor of re-electing him to office.

Lacityworkers.com will keep you updated on the reform at city hall.

Prepare yourself for a Landslide victory in this so called election.

Here are some interesting links I found relating to retirement and erips etc.