Maine AFL-CIO Urges Support for COLA Increases for Public Employees

Photo: MSEA retiree Ginette Rivard testifies before the Appropriations Committee in support of raising COLAs for retired public employees.

The Maine AFL-CIO testified on Tuesday before a legislative committee in support of a bill to improve retirement benefits for retirees in the Maine Public Employee Retirement System (MPERS). LD 70, sponsored by Rep. Jan Dodge (D-Belfast), would repair some of the damage the LePage administration did to retiree pensions in 2011 by increasing cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for retired state employees, educators, corrections officers and public sector workers.

For most MPERs retirees their pension is their main source of income because they do not receive social security. Currently, retired state employees, teachers and other beneficiaries only get COLAs on the first $24,000 of their retirement benefit. LD 70 would make those cost-of-living increases apply to the entire benefit. The measure would undo the LePage administration’s pension cuts that included a freeze to the COLA for 3 years, an increased retirement age for those who had less than 5 years of service, and a permanent limit on the COLA by making it only apply to the first $20,000 in pension income.

“Public sector workers and retirees have not been able to catch up with the cost of living since these 2011 changes were put in place,” Maine AFL-CIO Legislative and Political Director Adam Goode explained to members of the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. “The result has been that retired state employees and teachers have fared worse than recipients of social security.”

Recent inflation numbers were 6.5 percent in December and 7.1 percent in November.

Goode noted that even if inflation slows, a maximum COLA of 3 percent on the first $24,000 means a public sector retiree falls behind every single year, moving move closer and closer to the poverty line.