Local 237 Recording Secretary Patricia Stryker

When Patricia Stryker, Recording Secretary of Local 237, learned that an executive called retirement benefits for workers in New York “too generous,” she did not hesitate to call the firm to account.

Stryker is a designated trustee representing Local 237 President Greg Floyd on the board of the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS), and the executive who made the remark works for The Blackstone Group, an investment firm NYCERS does business with. NYCERS, a defined benefit plan that provides pensions for the city’s public employees, has $544 million in assets under management with Blackstone and has paid the firm more than $16.4 million in fees.

“Our members and retirees have often accepted lower wages, with the understanding that one day they will be able to retire with dignity. Is a $22,000 annual pension income—the average pension income for retired New York City employees last year who were NYCERS retirees— ‘too generous’?” asked Stryker.

She called on Blackstone to clarify its position about defined benefit pension plans for public employees—including the defined benefits promised to New York City employees. At her request, Hamilton James, Blackstone’s President and Chief Operating Officer, put the firm’s position into writing.

In a letter to NYCERS’ Chairman Bud Larson, James clarified that Blackstone “believes that retirement security is critical for all workers” and that “working men and women who put in years of service should have the means needed to live comfortably for the balance of their days after retirement, without feeling their financial security is at risk.”

The publication “Pensions & Investments” featured Stryker’s efforts in the June 28, 2010, article, “Blackstone in repair mode after Wien flap,” and the magazine also published a letter Stryker wrote to the editor regarding Blackstone’s comments and the firm’s subsequent clarification of its position.

In the letter, Stryker put Blackstone and all other investment firms on notice that NYCERS is committed to ensuring that its members’ retirement assets are not used to finance efforts to undermine their retirement security. Stryker will make sure of it.