We know many of you are frustrated and upset, but we want to make one thing clear: Guam Federation of Teachers does not condone strikes. We believe the only way to make and ensure change is through negotiations and Collective Bargaining Agreements.
MESSAGE FROM GFT PRESIDENT
by Toneshia Harris | May 11, 2020 | Announcements | 1 comment
I am a GFT Member and a Law Enforcement Officer. I am requesting if we do not get our Double Pay because the Government cannot afford it and they are looking at Furloughs, would it be better if the Guam Retirement Fund allow for the following instead of to Furlough employees and have an option:
1) Early Retirement for those who completed 15 years or more without penalty-to retire early as long as we put in enough to retire.
2) Resign and be allowed to return back when I am 60 years to retire because I am only 52 years old and I still have 10 more years to reach 62 years which is a long way. I already completed 30 years of Government Service.
3) Would I be able to convert my 2400 hours sick leave to years of service now instead of waiting til I am 62 years old? Because it is not fair that everyone could use up their sick leave and get paid for it now before they are 62 yrs old, and as for me I did not use my sick leave so could I get paid for sick leave upon resignation or retirement instead of a certain percentage which is not fair for others to use it up. Or could I convert my sick leave and annual leave hours into years of service?
Because, Its not fair that people are able to use up their sick leave and annual leave and get paid for it and as for me, an example, who rarely misses work accumulated all of these hours of leave. So, the law needs to be amended to be fair that employees should be allowed to cash out their annual leave and all of their sick leave upon retirement or resignation to make it fair or convert all of the sick leave and annual leave hours into years of service instead of waiting until I am 62 years because we are allowed to use our sick leave and annual leave now but instead I did not use my leave hours.
4. Be allowed to use up their sick leave and annual leave until they retire for X number of years to be fair. This is in my case in which I have enough leave hours to convert to about 2 years and 400 hours of leave or.
5. Be allowed to cash out all of my Annual Leave instead of the limit of cashing out 385 hours of Annual Leave and to cash out the limit of 1150 hours in sick leave. Its not fair that others are allowed to not work and get paid using up all of their leave, while I have to work and accumulate leave which I have not used. Its just not fair.
6. The thing is the Government cannot afford to pay the overtime, cannot pay the typhoon pay owed, cannot pay the double pay, cannot pay the hazardous pay, and now looking at to furlough Officers because the Government cannot pay it. So, I am hoping that GFT Fights to amend the law to ensure that Law Enforcement could be allowed early retirement at 15 years of service or more with no penalty, cash out all of Annual Leave and Sick Leave earned or convert to years of service, be on the DB 1.75 plan or DC Plan.
7. Also emphasis that we work more than 86 hours per payperiod and this should be considered that all hours worked should also be counted into retirement to be fair. If I worked and extra 40 hours for the week then it should equal to 5 extra days instead of just giving me the 10 days of work, all hours should be included and counted as days of service and not just the 43 hours when in reality we worked more than 43 hours for the week.
This should be taken into consideration because we did not choose to be 12 hours shift it happened because we are critically short. So, to be fair, all hours performed by any employee should be converted to days, months and years of service to be fair, if that is not done, then it is unfair and where is the justice in this practice?
I am requesting that all of this be granted for Law Enforcement because we have been treated wrongly year after year in our compensation and this is all I am asking if :
1 ) I be allowed on the DB 1.75 plan to convert all of my annual and sick leave hours into years of service, if not, to be able to cash out all of my annual leave and sick leave that was accumulated throughout my years of service.
2) That all hours over 43 hours per week should be converted into days as per retirement rules. So if I worked overtime of 40 hours then it should be converted to 5 days extra on top of my 10 days that I already worked. As per retirement, eight hours equals to one day of service so the rule should apply to all hours worked.
3. That I be allowed to retire this year, or anyone who made 15 years or more with enough money in their retirement to be able to retire just like those who were given the early retirement option in the late 90s or Early 2000 here on Guam who were able to retire early or buy out. This should be allowed again so I could retire and use my sick leave and annual leave to retire. Instead of cashing all of my leave hours, I want to have the option of converting my hours into money and transfer it to my retirement fund and be able to retire this year. There should be no age restriction as long as they have at least 15 years of service or more. Consider the fact that we work extra hours which should have been converted to days for the hours worked regardless if it was overtime hours, it should be converted into days to be fair.
All I’m asking is to be treated fairly. If you pay double pay to one, then you have to pay double pay according to the law but if you can’t pay my double pay at least allow for me to go early retirement, retire this year, convert all of my sick leave and annual leave into cash and transfer it to my retirement account the DB1.75, or convert my leave hours to years of service, convert my overtime hours into service time which is eight hours performed equals to one day of service, be allowed to have only 5 years of service to retire, have no age restriction to retire as long as there is enough money in the retirement to retire and change the retirement age to 50 years old. It is known that law enforcement has high stress so they need to look into that because we work long hours and they did a study that our life span is short in which they need to consider this. I pray it is not true but consider it. We are not no ordinary 8 to 5 job with weekends. We work odd hours, odd shift, long hours in a very high stress, dangerous, and considered to be a thankless job but we are held to high standards, high expectation and require a lot of skills, knowledge, training, and be professional at all times. Just asking for your help and for Retirement and law makers to do the right thing and make it better for law enforcement now because we are always played like the pawn in the Chess Game and mistreated so many times. Please help us and make it right.
Anonymous Officer