Pension votes pressure Brown
of their collective bargaining rights, said Harley Shaiken, a UC Berkeley professor who specializes in labor issues. “That may have national significance, but that … won’t happen in California.”
Still, Shaiken and others predict that other cashstrapped cities and counties in California will try to cut retirement benefits for public-service workers.
San Jose vote
In San Jose, where pension payments spiked this year to $245 million, or 27 percent of the city’s general fund budget, 70 percent of voters backed a plan to ask current employees to pay as much as 16 percent of their salaries to keep their plan or accept fewer benefits.
San Diego voters overwhelmingly supported a sixyear freeze on city employees’ current salary levels that determine pension benefits, and a requirement that new employees accept 401(k)-style retirement plans.
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, in an interview with The Chronicle on Wednesday, said he has consulted in recent weeks with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and scores of his fellow California politicians about whether his pension move would work.
Voters’ overwhelming support for Measure B on Tuesday, Reed said, sends “a pretty clear message, and it cuts across all political parties and all political divisions. What it demonstrates to other mayors and others is that you can take this to the voters, and you can win.”
But the rollback will be tied up in the courts for now. On Wednesday, San Jose police and fire unions asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent the implementation of Measure B.
Jim Unland, president of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, said taxpayers will absorb the burden of the costs of defending Measure B — money that could have provided more city services.
Said Reed: “If we have to spend some money to implement the will of the voters, it’s a small price compared to the potential savings.”
Brown’s view
Brown seemed to get the message Wednesday in San Francisco, where he was attending a fundraiser for President Obama.
“Wisconsin is something that’s very unique to Wisconsin. The pension vote in San Jose, which is a more liberal city than the state as a whole, is a very powerful signal that pension reform is an imperative,” Brown said.
Brown introduced a pension reform plan last fall, but it has gone nowhere in the Legislature.
Public support for changes to public pensions is growing. According to a December survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 70 percent of likely voters supported increasing new and current employees’ contributions to the annual cost of their pensions so that they pay an amount
equal to what employers pay.
Union reaction
But some union leaders cautioned not to make too big a deal out of two cities passing ballot measures while 240 other California municipalities have rolled back benefits through negotiations, with more jurisdictions to follow.
“It’s a foregone conclusion that there will be reform coming out of Sacramento,” said Steve Maviglio, an organizer with Californians for Retirement Security, an umbrella group that represents most of the state’s major unions.
But there will be a political cost for leaders, especially Democrats who take on unions at the ballot box.
“Chuck Reed will never get union support again as long as he lives,” Maviglio said.
“The unions are not the people,” Reed said. “They represent their interests. But we represent the broader interests. And if you really are dedicated to serving the people, you’ve got to provide services.”