SRHS retirees to picket for pension plans in Jackson

OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (WLOX) - Singing River Health System employees and retirees are taking their fight for their pension plans to Mississippi's Capitol Tuesday. The group called "HOPES" will be picketing in support of two bills.

One is a Senate bill by Senator Brice Wiggins that demands public hospitals to follow the state's open meetings law. The other bill the group is pushing for is one by Representative Hank Zuber that requires some public retirement systems to notify participants of any plan changes.

The group will also have a question-and-answer session with Wiggins and Zuber.

"It's the retirees that really push me to fight for this because if they don't have that money coming in, they're not going to survive. Then what are we going to do?" said Trudy Nelson, creator of HOPES. "This is affecting not just the people in the hospital system, not just the current employees, but the retirees and the vested employees. But it's going to affect Jackson County."

Trudy said picketing will begin Tuesday morning.

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