To the Editor,

Patrick Crowley, the successor to George Nee as President of the RI AFL-CIO, has been appointed (along with Mr. Nee and John Maguire, a union rep) to the Pension Advisory Working Group (PAWG).  PAWG was formed to look impartially at the "unintended consequences" of Gina Raimondo's pension "reform, " the RI Retirement Security Act (RIRSA) of 2011. 

In the Providence Journal's "Political Scene," Mr. Crowley  stated that "the focus of organized labor as it relates to the RI state pension system .... is going to be on the active employees," because the active employees "elect us."  Further quotes make it clear that the non-union retirees are not his problem.

This position has created the following imbalance since 2011: Retirees, 35% decrease in benefit value; state employee actives, almost 35% salary increase.

How can Crowley, Nee and Maguire remain as "problem solvers" on the PAWG if their main goal is to safeguard the ongoing redistribution of the retirees' COLAs into active union members' pay raises?  Mr. Crowley has made the union strategy clear.  They will hijack this study group into a bargaining session, and the retirees have no representation for their own issues.

The PAWG should be reconstituted to ensure objectivity, and Messrs. Crowley, Nee and Maguire should be sent back to union hall.

Brian Kennedy

North Providence

Mr. Kennedy is a retired state employee (33 years in Division of Human Resources and Governor's Budget Office), AFSCME Member, AFSCME Shop Steward, AFSCME Retiree Group, USMC 1969 - 1971.