A 55/25 retirement option long sought by the UFT took effect on Feb. 27 when Governor Eliot Spitzer signed the legislation needed for it to become law. The landmark pension bill enables eligible UFT-represented educators to retire with unreduced benefits five years sooner than they could before.

“It took 14 years of relentless work — in the political arena and at the negotiating table — for us to obtain this age 55 retirement plan,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “Twenty-five years constitutes a career. It’s really hard work to teach, and our members deserve to be able to retire with an unreduced pension after that length of service.”

Under the new retirement option, in-service educators in Tiers II, III and IV will be able to retire with 25 years of service and begin collecting an unreduced pension at age 55. Previously teachers and other Teachers’ Retirement System members hired after 1973 had to work 30 years or wait until they were 62 in order not to have their pensions reduced, while Board of Education Retirement System members, such as therapists and nurses, had to be 62 to retire with an unreduced pension.
Starting on Feb. 27, eligible UFT members have a one-time-only 180-day window to opt in.

Those who opt in will have an additional 1.85 percent of their salary deducted from their paycheck retroactive to Feb. 27. The additional contribution will continue until June 29, 2008 or until the member completes 25 years of service, whichever is later. The earliest that an eligible member may retire is June 30, 2008.

Given how long and hard this struggle was, it is highly unlikely that current members will ever have another opportunity to join the 55/25 plan so it is important to consider now whether or not you want to opt in to this plan. We will try to provide all the information you need to make this important life decision. The opt-in period ends on Aug. 25, 2008. As of mid-April, 11,500 members had opted in.

Check out the dates and times for the second round of informational meetings in the boroughs by clicking the link to the right.