The teachers are whining about FUTURE earnings from pensions. Somehow, they believe that when they signed on, they got some kind of lifetime agreement on the pensions. BTW, they did a sick out (with apparent impunity) and went to Frankfort to protest. They’ve done this several times. Not that it really matters if they show up or not, with KY usually propped up by MS, AK and WV near the bottom in educational achievement.
I myself saw the 401k contribution from my employer drop during and after the last recession. In the private sector, if you don’t like it, and you think that you can do better, leave. Many did. That is basically how America works, or, anyway, is supposed to work.
There was a time when government employment paid less than the private sector, but at least you got a good pension. This is definitely no longer true. In KY (as in many states), the biggest employer in most of the counties is...government. And it pays rather well.
Here is the situation in a nutshell;
1. Ky has extremely generous pensions.
2. Bad financial mistakes were made over several Dem administrations, by Dems.
3. KY is really in a small scale version of Illinois’ situation, with much less financial resource.
4. The teachers WILL have to convert to a 401(k).
Public school teachers’ unions destroyed NJ financially; they (and other government workers) are our new middle upper class, with salaries AND benefits better than most private sector jobs - including many white-collar jobs that require degrees/certification. Coupled with the “employment for life” situation after a couple of years, it is a formula for disaster; the government worker caste crushes and chases out our middle class - and the employers that provide jobs.
Amazon was a lost opportunity for NY, we’ve already lost Mercedes and are losing Honeywell now in further blows to our middle and upper classes. These salary levels aren’t being replaced here; if you lose one of these jobs, there is a good chance you’ll lose your home. Young people refuse to sign up for this, and either flee or remain without starting families/buying homes.