The Texas Legislature appears primed to approve an ongoing monthly increase that retired teachers have long asked for.
Hundreds of retired teachers from around the state celebrated on the Texas Capitol lawn Wednesday afternoon, eating ice cream with sprinkles under a big, white tent and listening to lawmakers share their excitement at the prospects ofA short walk away, at a different rally, a shirtless man wore a barrel with suspenders attached to it — a caricature of a cartoon, Depression-era hobo.
The Texas State Employees Union rallied shortly before the retired teachers event started, just a few hundred yards away, on the south steps of the Capitol. A parade of speakers angrily called for pay raises and a cost-of-living adjustment of their own, pumping up the crowd with chants and call-and-response. So far in budget negotiations, there is momentum for a 10 percent pay increase for current state staff over the biennium, but no funds were set aside for the cost-of-living adjustment.
“It’s hard to make ends meet. It’s been so long since we’ve had a COLA,” he said, adding that recent inflation has hit his household particularly hard. “We’re relegated to chicken and pizza for the most part. We don’t go to the restaurants we used to.”
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