worker

Mercedes Herman, a registered nurse with nearly four decades of experience, can retire in 2010 but was planning to keep working for several more years at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. But possible recession-driven changes to her employer-funded pension plan have her rethinking her future.

The potential retirement of Herman and hundreds like her, spurred by a desire to protect a higher pension payout, could diminish the ranks of an already overstretched workforce.

The possible exodus is an effect of the federal Pension Protection Act of 2006, which could lead to drastic cuts to the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) pension plan. This has presented some of the union’s registered nurses with a tough choice: retire now, or risk losing up to half their pension funds.

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Age: 49
Neighborhood: Sheepshead Bay
Occupation: School kitchen worker
First Time Voter: No
Political Affiliation: Democrat

“I hope that when I get to be a retiring age, because I’m only a part-time worker, that I’ll be able to live.”

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