Public sector employees contribute to the state's economy. They shouldn't be vilified.

Public service workers are among Connecticut’s greatest assets. From teachers to sanitation workers to first responders, they care for our children, plow our roads, build our bridges and work to keep our neighborhoods clean and safe. They choose to spend their professional careers doing work that can be difficult to leave at the office at the end of the day, often affecting their own families by choosing to serve their communities.

More often than not, public sector workers are bringing home less money than they could by doing similar work in the private sector, but not without good reason.

Yet these workers are too often vilified for having the security that comes with a defined benefit retirement plan. It’s time to change the narrative that wealthy and corporate special interests are spinning about pensions.

From the start of their employment, public employees pay a percentage of their wages into their pension with every paycheck. Their employers also contribute to their plan, and this money is then professionally invested. As long as they have been working and paying into this system for the minimum number of years required by their employer, they will receive a modest but guaranteed benefit for life once they retire.

Read more: https://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-blake-pension-security-0729-20190729-lgrd7n7rgfdxdiriz3si4kt57q-story.html