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Who Matters: Bond Traders Or Rhode Islanders?


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Local labor unions are protesting all of Gina Raimondo’s public appearances to call attention to their cuts to their retirement security she shepherded through in 2011. But their appearance in front of the Bond Buyers conference this morning was especially poignant because many think Raimondo represents Wall Street first and foremost, and Rhode Island is the only state in the nation that has a law that puts the financial interest of the bond market over the interest of the state.

So I asked Paul Valletta, of the Providence fire fighters union, Mike Downey, of Council 94, and Governor Chafee what they think of this. (I would have asked Raimondo but she only had time for one question from me – she’s welcome to add her thoughts in the comments below, or we could do a follow up interview.)

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Was Labor ‘At The Table’ For Pension Legislation?


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Probably a big point of contention as Rhode Island and its public sector retirees try to mediate a compromise on pension reform will be whether or not organized labor was considered when drafting the legislation.

As few hundred Providence fire fighters, police officers and other public sector union members protested outside a conference for Bond Buyers in downtown Providence today to call continued attention to pension cuts that hurt members’ retirement security, there were some different opinions on this matter.

Inside the conference, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo was telling the room full of bond investors that, “In Rhode Island this was never about Democrat versus Republican, union versus management, labor versus management us, vs them.”

It struck me as odd that Raimondo said pension cuts didn’t pit public sector retirees against taxpayers.

Especially since Paul Valletta, of the Providence fire fighters union, said they are protesting every public event Raimondo appears at because they weren’t at the table.

Here’s what Valletta told me outside:

Inside the conference, Gina Raimondo disagreed with this characterization.

So I asked Governor Chafee, who also spoke at the Bond Buyers conference, to break the tie.

I attended many of the public meetings Chafee and Raimondo held with labor leaders physically at the table. Those public meetings were not where the substance of the actual pension cuts were crafted. That likely happened behind closed doors between Raimondo and legislative leaders before the special session in November of 2011.