Facebook Public Pension Groups Replace Unions, Protecting Worker Retirement Savings

Facebook groups organized by public pension participants are increasingly doing the work unions should exposing looting and mismanagement.

Combative and secretive, our nation’s state and local government pensions more-often-than-not treat pension participants demanding transparency and accountability as the enemy.

My experience in 2021, conducting a forensic investigation of the $90 billion State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio on behalf of the 20,000 member-strong Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, convinced me that Facebook groups organized by pension participants can be a powerful force to combat looting of America’s public pensions by Wall Street and corrupt politicians.

In Ohio, two Facebook groups, Ohio STRS Members Only Forum (36,000 members) and the STRS Ohio Watchdogs (14,000 members) are vigilantly working to expose gross mismanagement at the STRS Ohio pension, as well as pushing for reform at the combative, highly secretive fund.

This past week, I was introduced to another vibrant Facebook group pushing for reform of the Minnesota state pension system. While the name of the group, Pension Reform for Tier II Minnesota Public Educators, may not be catchy, with nearly 19,000 members it also appears to be emerging as a formidable advocate.

Combative and secretive, our nation’s state and local government pensions more-often-than-not treat pension participants demanding transparency and accountability as the enemy. While unions fail to effectively advocate on behalf of workers and retirees, Facebook groups are emerging as powerful forces to protect retirement savings.

• Facebook Has Long Been Criticized

Long before U.S. intelligence agencies identified Facebook as a battlefield for information warfare and foreign interference in the 2016 election, the company was criticized for the harm it did including failing to stop the spread of extremism, hate speech, propaganda, disinformation, and conspiracy theories on its site. The 2012 post Top 10 Reasons Why Facebook Is The Devil includes alleging “it does nothing but incite envy, fake-ness, impulsivity, over-disclosure, jealousy, rage, picture-taking, hatred, loneliness and desperation.”

In 2020, Adrienne LaFrance in The Atlantic wrote, “In recent years, as Facebook’s mistakes have compounded and its reputation has tanked, it has become clear that negligence is only part of the problem. No one, not even Mark Zuckerberg, can control the product he made. I’ve come to realize that Facebook is not a media company. It’s a Doomsday Machine.”

I have written about being suspiciously blocked by Facebook from posting my widely disseminated Forbes articles in pension group discussions for somehow “violating community standards.” How can an article about pensions suitable for publication by Forbes.com violate a pension group’s community standards? Requests for explanation or reconsideration have gone unanswered by Facebook.

I also exposed an apparently fake Facebook account that was attempting to discourage Ohio government workers from donating to a GoFundMe campaign to conduct a forensic investigation into potential mismanagement at the $100 billion-plus Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS).  The fake Facebook account later disappeared without explanation, following my complaints to the company.

• Facebook Emerging As Force for Pension Good

On the other hand, my experience conducting a forensic investigation of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio on behalf of the 20,000 member-strong Ohio Retired Teachers Association has convinced me that Facebook groups can be a powerful force to combat looting of America’s pensions by Wall Street. In Ohio, two Facebook groups, Ohio STRS Members Only Forum (36,000 members) and the STRS Ohio Watchdogs (14,000 members) are vigilantly working to expose gross mismanagement at STRS Ohio identified in a forensic investigation I completed.

This past week, I was introduced to another vibrant Facebook group pushing for reform of the Minnesota state pension system. While the name of the group, Pension Reform for Tier II Minnesota Public Educators, may not be catchy, with nearly 19,000 members it also appears to be a formidable advocate. In the group’s words:

“The purpose of this group is to champion an effort to improve pension benefits for educators hired after July 1, 1989. These educators are in Tier II.”

We call on all involved parties – Governor Walz, the Minnesota Legislature, Education Minnesota leadership, and the SPTRFA and Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) Boards – to contribute to improving Tier II pension benefits based on the following facts:

- The state currently has a budget surplus of over $17 billion, and the retirement fund had an investment return of over 30% in FY21. Now is the time to move forward.

- The rights of post-July 1, 1989 hires were sacrificed when financial times were tough. Restoring those rights should be a top priority now that times are relatively good.

- Teachers who have taught 30+ years deserve to be able to retire without a reduction in benefits, especially after having taught through a pandemic.

- A better Tier II pension system would serve as a recruitment and retention tool, increasing and diversifying the pool of future teachers.”

It’s no secret that most of our nation’s public pension funds are grossly underfunded. Not surprising, the single greatest concern of pension participants today is whether the pensions they rely upon for their retirement security are prudently managed and if pensioners will receive all the benefits they have been supposedly promised.

While for over two decades I have implored unions to get actively involved in scrutinizing the management of pension investments—serving a watchdog function which pension boards are ill-equipped to perform—rarely have I been successful in persuading these unions that the best way to preserve pensions is to expose and address problems, not hide them. Unions tend to believe that any criticism of pensions will only lead sponsors to no longer offer them to workers.

According to Dean Dennis, President of ORTA, “Traditional unions are supported by active teachers and focus on their issues. The problems at STRS Ohio are broader because they also effect retired teachers’ COLAs and the general public, including taxpayers. However, we are well-aware that active teachers are working longer and receiving less for their contributions. I would encourage teachers nationally who are concerned about their retirement security to take action on their own—like we did—and not rely upon unions to watch over their pensions.”

“I would encourage teachers nationally who are concerned about their retirement security to take action on their own—like we did—and not rely upon unions to watch over their pensions,” says Dean Dennis, President of ORTA.

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