The New York State Teachers Retirement System – NYSTRS – is meant to shield the futures of those grinding away in New York’s classrooms. Instead, it’s a bloated fortress of bungles and veiled sleaze, turning educators’ sweat into a gamble. This isn’t minor bookkeeping bollocks; it’s a sacred trust morphed into a festering wound – $150 billion juggled by suits who handle lives like discarded cigs.

While pensioners scrape by on fading promises, NYSTRS dumps millions into Cummins Inc.’s toxic trough – confirmed holders of roughly 110,000 shares, valued at about $36 million. Teachers’ dues, hauled from blackboards and break rooms, now propping up a diesel fraud factory.

Fraud in the Family: Thieves, Loopholes and a Dozing Guard Dog

The decay kicks off with fundamentals: scumbags looting the coffers, the watchdog’s snoring. A homeless bloke allegedly hauled in $780,000 for his dead wife’s pension. A Hempstead woman concealed her mum’s passing for six years, swiping $240,000. A Rochester thief nabbed $13,000 from her late mother’s cheques. A city hack jailed for pinching $624,000 from retirees’ funds.

These aren’t quirks – they’re festering sores. Each rips open a system too arrogant or slack to verify pulses. NYSTRS peddles fraud tip lines like band-aids on a haemorrhage, ignoring the gaping flaws that demand them.

Its own buildings stink of exploitation: contractors slammed for wage theft, stripping workers of pensions under NYSTRS’s shadow. A fund built on educators’ backs, underpinned by worker abuse – hypocrisy that burns like acid.

The Casino Approach: Reckless Bets and Political Charades

When not getting fleeced, NYSTRS fleeces itself. In 2024, it hurled $75 million at CrowdStrike before the firm’s glitch unleashed global digital hell – vaporising millions in a flash. That’s not misfortune; it’s suited stupidity on steroids.

Lawsuits erupted: members raging at NYSTRS for politicising their nest eggs, chasing eco halos over solid yields. Hochul’s 2022 tweaks fattened Wall Street’s pockets with higher fees, starving public faith. The fund’s limp Exxon divestment – a mere $25 million from $500 million – touted green creds while clutching $36 million in Cummins, the emissions cheat nailed for billions in fines. Teachers’ cash, choking on exhaust.

Errors, Overpayments and Kafkaesque Payroll Hell

Blunders here hit like hammers. A retiree slapped with a $49,000 clawback after NYSTRS confessed to botching her payout. Picture cashing out your career, only to owe for their maths meltdown – outrageous.

Gender bias cases stretch back: women hammered for childcare gaps in a setup favouring unbroken toil. 2023 hacks spewed retirees’ data into the void, inviting identity vultures. The double-dipping scam endures, letting pensioners hoard full benefits plus salaries in fresh gigs – dubbed “legal” amid shortages, but a slap to equity.

Legal? Bollocks. It’s a rigged game, pure and vile.

Governance Without Guts

At the helm, overseers yap without bite. A 2006 trustee indicted for perjury in a pension probe; 2014 FOI dodges hiding retiree lists until judges forced exposure. Openness isn’t ethos here – it’s a grudge-held obligation.

Unions tangle with pols in healthcare swaps that shredded stabilisation pots, spiking copays and eroding pensions. Outcome: educators ensnared in a web where security’s a cruel joke.

The Cummins Connection

Cummins lurks in the mix – a “solid” pick that’s pure poison. For NYSTRS, it’s comfy: tidy returns, faux-green gloss. But scratch it: a diesel giant slapped with $1.6 billion for fraud, rebranded as eco-hero.

Educators’ funds buoy a polluter. The polluter buoys shares. A vicious loop where grins mask the grime.

Conclusion: Educators Deserve Better Than This Filth

This isn’t mere fiscal fumble; it’s ethical rotgut. Thefts, gambles, veils, double-talk – bankrolled by folks marking papers and funding supplies from their wallets. NYSTRS doesn’t safeguard; it preys on faith.

Rip it apart, audit by audit, or it’ll churn public dedication into elite gains, masquerading as pension peace.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Shareholder Spotlight : NYSTRS – Where Teachers’ Pensions Go to Die