Posted on 09/17/2021 6:54:07 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
SCHENECTADY – They had no luck with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo but now a pair of Schenectady-area lawmakers are asking Gov. Kathy Hochul for help in restoring pensions for more than 1,000 people who worked at the now-closed St. Clare’s Hospital.
“Unfortunately, our previous governor refused to ever meet with or listen to the concerns of the pensioners. We know you have a tremendous amount on your plate, we respectfully ask you to please set aside a few minutes in the near future to meet with us and the leader of the St. Clare’s Pensioners Recovery Alliance so we and her can impart their concerns,” reads a letter to Hochul sent on Friday by GOP Sen. Jim Tedisco, Democratic Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and Mary Hartshorne, chair of the St. Clare’s Pensioners Recovery Alliance.
Hochul spokeswoman Haley Viccaro said they had just received the letter on Friday morning and would be reviewing it soon.
Santabarbara-Tedisco Letter to Gov. Hochul St. Clare's-1 by rkarlin on Scribd
Santabarbara,Tedisco and others have been fighting for restoration since 2018, when the pension collapsed. Retirees also have sued the Catholic Diocese of Albany which operated the hospital.
St. Clare’s more than a decade ago closed and was absorbed by Schenectady’s larger Ellis Hospital as part of a statewide plan to cut unnecessary hospital beds.
At the time, the state had provided $28 million to help cover pension liabilities but that wasn’t enough. Subsequent calculations showed they need $47 million.
Because the employees were technically working for a religious order, federal pension protections such as those provided by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. didn’t apply.
As a result about 400 former employees of the hospital lost most of their pensions, with another 700 or so losing all the payments.
Santabarbara, Tedisco and the pensioners said they had repeatedly tried to contact Cuomo, but he refused to meet with them or respond in any way to their concerns, even saying he was unaware of the issue when asked about it during a press conference.
Cuomo resigned from office in August amid a mushrooming sexual harassment scandal and other accusations of wrongdoing.
"Sadly, more than 1,100 retirees of the former St. Clare's Hospital in Schenectady were told that they would no longer receive their pensions back in 2018, and during these challenging times they continue to face dire financial straits to say the least,” Santabarbara said.
“As Governor Hochul vows to restore trust in government and foster a culture of greater transparency, we respectfully request that she give us and Mary Hartshorne, the leader of the St. Clare’s Pensioners Recovery Alliance, a few minutes of her time to listen to the concerns of the pensioners, who have seen their life savings disappear through no fault of their own,” Tedisco added.
“My fellow St. Clare’s health care workers all gave their hearts when taking care of patients when they were at their most vulnerable. Our St. Clare’s retirees deserve their pensions they worked so hard to earn, said Hartshorne.
In their press advisory about the letter, the lawmakers noted that the federal government has already put out $1.9 billion for Covid-19 relief. That included an $86 billion carve-out to help other workers shore up failing pension plans but that didn’t include those who worked at St. Clare’s.
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