California takes monumental step toward retirement security for millions of workers
On March 28 we leaped over a major hurdle on our path to achieving better retirement security for the nearly 7 million Californians in the private sector with no retirement savings plan at work. The new retirement investment plan aim to alleviate a looming epidemic of poverty among California seniors.
Under SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker’s leadership, and with the support of numerous SEIU leaders, members and workers across California over the past few months, the Board voted unanimously to send language to the legislature giving them the authority and the direction to pursue options that include smoothing and reduce timing risk, including an investment option with a reserve fund and a mandate to seek to lower fees for participants.
We would like to thank all the workers and SEIU 521 members who have come out to support Secure Choice.
Luisa Blue, Chief Elected Officer of SEIU Local 521, made the following statement:
“After a lifetime of hard work, everyone deserves basic financial security. Social Security alone does not keep people out of poverty, and the 401(k) option has failed nearly all workers, especially those who have no access to a plan through their work.
“But today, California moved a step forward on a historic journey to rebuild the promise of retirement security for seniors and address the looming epidemic of senior poverty that threatens to hit our women, low-income workers, and people of color the hardest.
“The plan the Secure Choice board put forward today meets the important goals of sharing risk across members and across generations so no one has to worry what they’ve worked for will be wiped out because of bad timing.
“SEIU is proud to have been involved in this effort since the beginning, working with Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León to move SB 1234 from concept into law, and leading a statewide conversation about retirement security for all. Our 700,000 members will continue to fight for all workers to have access to the American Dream of a secure retirement, because no one should have to work until they die.”
A growing number of seniors in California and across the Sacramento region are living in poverty, according to a Bee review of U.S. Census data. That’s why we need Secure Choice and we need to continue working on retirement security for all. The California retirement crisis is also highlighted in a news article from Beyond Chron.
The new plan will make it easier for Millennials and other workers to achieve a secure retirement. Read the Sacramento Bee’s news article here.
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