Retirees fight for COLAs?

About 109,000 retired state employees and teachers scheduled to lose automatic cost-of-living increases in their pensions July 1 might not sit back and watch them go.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a pension-reform bill into law this month hoping to cut the liability in the state’s older Plan 1 systems that are not fully funded. The move is estimated to save the state about $400 million in pension contributions this biennium. It is expected to reduce future costs for employers by $7 billion over 25 years, getting rid of more than half of the liability.