Sen. Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo, and Long Island Assemblyman Philip Ramos, D-Central Islip, both oppose a plan floated by the governor to create a new retirement tier.

Assembly Labor Committee Chairwoman Susan John, D-Rochester, said getting the message out that Tier 5 would hurt public employees and help no one is proving difficult.

"We're trying to oppose it," she said. "We're not getting a lot of help."

Meanwhile, a former teacher herself, Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, said she could support a "reasonable" Tier 5, because "I think that we have to make some changes because of the economy."

More than 650 lobbyists-for-a-day from NYSUT's Committee of 100 were prepared for the responses as they brought their message to the Capitol late last month. And NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin urged the educators to be consistent — and persistent — in their message.

"We have to keep going back to them again and again and again, until they get it right," Lubin said. "We need legislators to say 'No' to Tier 5, and we need them to say 'No,' even if it is in the budget — and that's our mantra: It has no business being in the budget."

In his executive budget proposal, Gov. Paterson called for creating a Tier 5 as a cost-saving measure. The proposal calls for new teachers and other public employees to work longer in exchange for diminished retirement eligibility and inferior retirement benefits. Unionists argued a new retirement tier would undermine recruitment and morale.

The governor's Tier 5 proposal would:

• Increase the retirement age from 55 to 62.
• Change the vesting period from five to 10 years, requiring members to work much longer to be guaranteed a pension.
• Require contributions from members throughout their career. (Currently, members of Tiers 3 and 4 contribute to the retirement system for 10 years).
• Exclude overtime calculations such as coaching, chaperoning and other stipends from a member's final average salary, meaning a lower pension.

Defeating this proposal is so critical it was the sole agenda item at a historic meeting of the state's labor allies. Lubin and NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, along with labor leaders representing workers across the state, met recently with lawmakers to impress on them the flaws in creating a new pension tier.

"The governor is using the current economic crisis as his motivation to propose a Tier 5," Lubin said. "These changes will not save taxpayers a single dime over the near term. In fact, actuaries tell us the state will not see any savings for 10 years.

"Public workers are the lifeblood of this state. This is a critical issue," Lubin said.