LANSING — The American Federation of Teachers – Michigan released the following statement regarding the passage of a package of bills that will gut the secure retirement promised to teachers.

“These bills are nothing but political ideology of corporate donors like the DeVos family masked  as a solution to a problem that, in reality, doesn’t exist. The MPSERS Hybrid system is not broken and all these bills will do is make planning for a secure retirement a volatile process for teachers, while costing Michigan taxpayers. Gov. Rick Snyder must veto these bills,” said David Hecker, president of AFT Michigan. “This assault was coordinated during closed-door meetings with Republican leadership while other elected officials and even teachers and school support staff, whose lives are impacted by this decision, were not consulted in the decision-making process. If Michigan is interested in attracting the best and brightest teachers to our neighborhood schools, what has happened today in Lansing should be a signal to the public that those in control of state government have little interest in making that happen.”