They’re pensioning off New York’s future.
Powerful public-sector unions scored their $557 million sweetheart pension giveaway after an election-year pressure campaign aimed at Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany lawmakers that cashed in on labor’s long support for statewide Democrats.
The ultimate deal unveiled this week was directly negotiated with Hochul by AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento, whom a coalition of unions entrusted to accomplish their decade-old goal of rolling back pension reforms that had raised recently hired teachers’ retirement ages.
Former Hudson Valley state Sen. David Carlucci, a Democrat, said organized labor’s relentless push to turn back the retirement clock was politically impossible for Hochul to ignore as she runs for re-election this fall.
“In an election year especially, lawmakers pay attention when unions mobilize members, shape public opinion, and turn frustration into action at the ballot box,” he said.
“This was a reminder that when labor moves together, it remains one of the most powerful forces in New York politics.”
The pension porkapalooza centered around the state’s Tier 6 employees, a category established by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012 to help contain runaway retirement costs.
To the unions’ everlasting chagrin, Cuomo and lawmakers raised the retirement age in Tier 6 to 63 and set higher employee contributions.
Roughly 800,000 public employees are currently in Tier 6. It now represents 66% of workers under the state’s primary retirement system.
The final deal hatched by Hochul and Cilento clearly shows the fingerprints of various union groups, particularly those representing teachers.
Teachers unions, including the formidable United Federation of Teachers, had pushed for an earlier retirement age of 55 to offset the fact their workers don’t make overtime.
Under the finalized deal, Tier 6 teachers will be able to retire penalty-free at age 58 after 30 years of service, rather than the current 63.
The teachers’ union gives — and then it gets, records show.
The New York State United Teachers, which counts the UFT as an affiliate, has donated $18.7 million to candidates, mostly state lawmakers, going back to 1999, according to the records.
The UFT has donated another $4.2 million.
Since 2021, NYSUT donated $952,000 to the chief fundraising arm of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, campaign finance records show. The UFT donated another $101,000 to DACC.
NYSUT also donated $404,000 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee over the same time period.
The haul doesn’t include contributions given during the 2026 legislative session, because the next campaign report filing isn’t due for candidates until July.
But the available records show Heastie’s campaign pulled in $44,000 in donations since 2023.
And Heastie’s PACs were showered with $20,000 from union-associated political action committees, according to the records.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ campaign also benefited from unions’ largesse, collecting $27,000 in donations since 2023, records show.
Hochul’s gubernatorial campaign reaped tens of thousands of dollars in donations from public-sector unions, including $18,000 from the American Federation of Teachers, according to records.
After the deal was struck, UFT president Michael Mulgrew took a victory lap.
“Albany heard us and took a major step in correcting the injustice of Tier 6,” he said.
Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank, said go-along to get-along legislators fear the teachers’ union will back a primary challenger.
“This rollback of pension reform was a display of raw political power by the teachers’ union,” he said. “They did not have the facts on their side.
“Legislators are afraid to say no to the teachers’ union. They want to pay their rent or mortgage.”
Cilento, for his part, argued the pension changes will help the state recruit and retain public employees, thus improving government services.
He thanked Hochul, Heastie, Stewart-Cousins and the state’s Democratic legislative majorities for backing the changes.
“The Union Movement’s fight to fix Tier 6 has always been about dignity, self-respect, and financial independence in retirement,” he said in a statement. “Whether it’s a reduction in pension contribution rates, lifting the cap on pensionable overtime, or reducing the retirement age, these changes are a clear victory for public sector workers across this state.”
The state budget bill also approves a plan by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to delay $2.3 billion in New York City’s pension payments in order to help close a spending shortfall.
But the rejiggered payment schedule would ultimately saddle the city with an estimated $5 billion in pension costs over the next 12 years, Bloomberg first reported.
