NAGE Members, Legislative Team Support Group 4 at Hearing
July 28, 2009
NAGE members from all of the Trial Court local executive boards and the NAGE legislative team were on hand at a legislative hearing July 27 to support a bill that would move probation and court security professionals into Group 4.
Court officers John Frank from Fall River District Court and Wayne Mansfield from Cambridge Probate Court both testified before the Joint Committee on Public Service in support of S.1134, the bill that would move NAGE Trial Court members to Group 4 in the state retirement classification system. The bill, if passed, would allow members to retire earlier with full benefits than they can now as members of Group 2.
Frank urged committee members to review the news clippings and video provided by NAGE to learn more about the daily toll of probation and court security work. Mansfield told the committee about his own incident getting stuck with a hypodermic needle while patting down a prisoner in lockup.
NAGE Legislative Director Ray McGrath reminded the committee that the increased workload at the courts exacerbates the strain faced by probation and court security personnel every day. “Everyone else who deals with this population belongs to Group 4 because the physical toll of dealing with offenders makes it much harder to do the job past the age of 55,” said McGrath. “The only people in that chain of custody who don’t get Group 4 are the probation department and court security professionals in the Trial Court. It’s time to fix that.”
Rep. Robert Spillane (D-Worcester) and Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn), the chairmen of the committee, both attended the hearing.