12
retirements are made in the years, of
transition to a pension system. It will
be difficult for the first employees who
retire unless they have savings to af
ford them their major support. A
monthly maximum o f around $60 for
those now retiring may be considered
ai meager assistance?' but some systems
have established a retirement age and
have provided no pensions. The Ore
gon state legislature in 1937 enacted
a law requiring all school systems hav
in g tenure to retire employees at 65.
For many of these school districts no
pension plan was inaugurated until the
passage of, the state retirement law in
1945. In spite of the fact that uni
formity of application is desirable when
Enforcing a law, it is possible for an
administrator to request the retention
of any employee who is doing accept
able work. Such provision would help
those who do not have adequate sav
ings.'
A -woman employee, when ques
tioned, | Expressed her appreciation of
her pension, saying that a few years
ago she did not expect anything. But
she does feel that after 30 years of
service sht should receive more than
another'who has worked only 20 years.
It will be remembered that the
O.SvE.A. did everything possible to
obtain' full prior service credit at the
last session of the state legislature,' arid
it is well known that our plans in-
Pensions Inadequate for Support
clude continued efforts to bring about
"The i last twenty years have been this change in the retirement act.
most unprof ita h le f or the average em
Many Welcome Retirement
ployee since there have been long pe
On the brighter side of the retire
riods of idleness, and then of high
ment
picture are the opinions of many
federal income taxes and retail prices,
with consequent dwindling of what other employees who' welcome retire
ever savings were accumulated. The ment. One man summarized his situa
actual retirement pensions will not be tion as being to his satisfaction. He
sufficient for the average state em owns, his home, his children are inde
ployee,” comments one press E corre pendent and he and his wife can do
very nicely witb the help qf the $ 5 5
spondent. "Tw o men,” writes another,
"have paid out everything they have he will receive.
" It is a welcome opportunity to re-
made to care for invalid wives o v e ra
long period of years. One woman, who tire. I have been waiting for years to
has no backlog Qf finances, is wonder retire on. $.50 per month and now it
ing about her future after retirement.” ’ 5? available,” said a Highway Depart-,
It must be remembered that the first ment employee. "M y wife refuses to put
are inadequate for an employee whose
savings are not sufficient to live on,
and those who object to receiving only
partial prior service credit.
"I can still do a good job of boiler
operating for the oil crew and wish|
I could continue with them every sea
son,” stated one retiring Highway De
partment employee. Another highway
crewman feels he is still husky enough
to do a good job but he will be satis
fied to comply with the law and retire
if he must.
Said, one woman employee indig
nantly, "I think it a shame that just
because a person gets a few years on
his head that he should be classified as
useless a n d . forced to step out when
he is still mentally alert and doing
a good acceptable job!”
One objective of a retirement and
pension plan is to help give an em
ployee freedom from a full time daily
job while he is still healthy enough to
enjoy his leisure. Many employees hope
that they will be able to retire at' 55/
or 60. Some haye , suggested that re
tirement should come aftQr 30 years
of service, which would mean at age
50 for those who statred in the service
very young. Also it is better planning
to have older employees retired on a
pension than to have young men and
women with no financial backing un
able to find employment.