Last week, one of the trustees who oversee Metro’s $2.5 billion pension fund — who also happens to run the local union representing Metro workers — told The Examiner’s David Francis that details about how the fund was administered are “not your business” because Metro hadn’t contributed “one red cent” from 1995 to 2006.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 President Jackie Lynn Jeter was right about it not being ONE cent — it was actually 7.9 billion cents ($79 million). As Francis subsequently reported, pensions are funded entirely by taxpayers and Metro riders under the union’s collective bargaining agreement. So it’s all public money.
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In light of this fact, Jeter’s refusal to release audit reports, as well as the names of all six trustees, is totally unwarranted. If this information is not made available immediately, the Metro board better find out why. And if Jeter is so misinformed about this issue — or is purposely stonewalling the media — maybe the local’s members should think about new leadership.
