ERS, or the Employees Retirement System, controls the pension plan for about 146,000 agency employees and about 104,000 retirees. It also runs the health care plan for all employees, dependents, and retirees of state agencies and of the universities outside the UT and A&M systems. The ERS Board makes the final decisions in the operation of these plans. It is made up of six members: three are elected directly by active employees and retirees. One of these positions comes up for election every other year. The other three positions are appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Texas House, and the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
THE BOARD NEEDS FRONT-LINE REPRESENTATION:
Over the seventy-year history of these systems, most trustees have been high-ranking officials or upper management. It makes a difference when front-line state employees bring their experience and perspective to these boards, and TSEU has worked since 1989 to elect trustees who will stand up for front-line employees.
GET INVOLVED IN THE ERS 2021 ELECTION:
After the successful election in 2015 of long-time TSEU activist Ilesa Daniels (now the Board Chair) to the ERS Board, we now have the sad task of replacing her after six productive years of service. We are calling on all frontline state workers to step up and help with a win in the 2021 election. We have the power in our numbers and influence among co-workers at our jobs; our union turned out the vote in 2015 for Ilesa, and we can do it again!