SEIU 1021

Retirement Security Committee

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The Retirement Security Committee (RSC) of SEIU Local 1021 meets every month, on the Third Thursday of the month, from 7 pm – 8 pm, at one of the union offices or by Zoom. Contact Retirement Security Committee Chair Derrick Boutte at derrick.boutte@seiu1021.org for more info.

The RSC is a standing committee of Local 1021, and the Chair of the committee has a seat on the union’s Executive Board.

The purpose of the RSC is to work to achieve a secure retirement for all workers. The Committee shall provide education and training around pensions and pension issues to the members. This committee comprises active and retired members committed to maintaining and improving retirement benefits and retiree health care.

Some of the programs and campaigns that the RSC works on:

  • CalPERS Board elections: Six of the 13 members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration are elected by the Active and Retired members of CalPERS. Local 1021, working with the SEIU State Council and other unions, supports candidates for this Board.

  • County Retirement Board elections: SEIU 1021 represents members in the San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS) and the following county systems under the California Retirement Act of 1937: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Sacramento, and San Joaquin. The RSC helps endorse and support candidates for the boards of trustees in these systems.

  • CalSavers: CalSavers is California’s retirement savings program designed for the millions of Californians who lack a way to save for retirement at their job. SEIU 1021 has members who work for non-profit agencies that do not provide retirement benefits. CalSavers was created by legislation passed in 2016 requiring California employers that do not sponsor a retirement plan to participate in CalSavers – an automatic enrollment individual retirement account (IRA) with no employer fees or fiduciary liability. Operating at no taxpayer expense, CalSavers is professionally managed by private-sector financial firms with oversight from a public board chaired by the State Treasurer. We have many members (maybe about 5,000) in the non-profit agencies who could use CalSavers to begin building for their Retirement Security. In 2022, we should work with the Non-Profit Industry staff and Chair to educate those about CalSavers. The same applies to our Adjunct Faculty (Faculty Forward) members.

  • Social Security: to protect and enhance the Social Security system. We work with groups like the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), and Social Security Works to fight attacks on the system and to support improvements, like increasing the earnings cap, getting a better COLA formula for Social Security, and better benefits.

  • Monitoring pension board activities: Our members attend and follow meetings of the pension boards and advocate for our members to protect our benefits and to support responsible investment practices in the corporations that the pension systems invest in.

  • Socially Responsible Investing: The RSC educates ourselves and our members on issues of socially responsible investments. This kind of funding policy is called Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG).

Pension systems for SEIU 1021 members:

Other pension websites: