The Daily Herald’s editorial board is echoing our call for a fair solution on pensions. Call your legislator at 888-412-6570 or email them at http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8864/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=450. Tell them “Don’t punish public employees for the mess you made — work with us for a fair solution.”

Anger over pensions blocks solution
www.dailyherald.com

Everyone who cares about the future of our schools needs to work toward a solution that’s as fair as it can be to everyone involved.

Capitol Fax.com – Your Illinois News Radar » Media finally catches on
capitolfax.com

Isn’t the buzzword “shared” sacrifice? As things have unfolded, the only ones sacrificing are teachers. I kept wondering who teachers were sharing the sacrifice with! Obviously, the kill has been on teachers because they’re an easy group—-not usually armed with lawyers, not militant, certainly n…

As police officers we have always stood with our fellow Public Sector Working Families in defending pension rights and benefits. We cannot sit idly by now even as more and more voices rise up to include police and firefighters in the current reform talks.

We know there could be a bill introduced any day now that not only reduces benefits for the statewide systems, but if the Illinois Municipal League and its members have their way, our names will be in the legislation as well.

Downstate and Suburban Mayors and Managers have made it a point through the media that they echo Mayor Emanuel’s request that local government employees need to be included in the potential pension reform bill that addresses the 5 statewide systems.

The time to act is now.

Please go to WeAreOneIllinois.org <http://weareoneillinois.org/> today and contact your legislators.

Then, pass this along to your family and friends because now is the time to go all in and we cannot wait for someone else to speak up for us.

See the latest commercial now playing across Illinois for We Are One Illinois http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HH5TzBogp_0

Also, don’t forget to check out and LIKE the PBPA Facebook Page to stay up to date on the latest developments at the State Capitol and around Illinois – <http://www.facebook.com/illinoispbpa>

It’s your retirement – Stay informed – Stay engaged -

Sean M. Smoot
Director & Chief Legal Counsel
PB&PA

This article from Capitol Fax was sent to us today:

FLUID NEGOTIATIONS Negotiations over pension reform are so fluid that even people involved can’t say for sure what the latest proposal is.

“It changes almost every minute,” bemoaned one top negotiator yesterday. She was responding to a question about a possible change to the annual cost of living adjustment for retirees. They currently get a 3 percent a year boost based on their previous year’s pension.

One of the proposed changes would apply that COLA to only about the first $30,000 of pension income. But it might be $24,000, depending on whom you talk to. But is that provision for retirees who stick with the the current pension plan or for those who are nudged into a new, scaled back pension plan?

“I don’t know,” came the flabbergasted response.

There also seems to be some legislative resistance to Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal to force employees to work until they’re 67 to qualify for full retirement benefits.

Actually, to call these negotiations “fluid” might be an insult to fluids everywhere. I’m not sure that anybody knows for sure what exactly is going on right now. Everybody expects to see a bill soon, with unions warning their members that legislation could surface by tomorrow. Nobody knows right now what will be in it or even whether the House and Senate Democrats will have an agreement on a unified plan. The Senate Democrats have a top staffer involved in the talks and he’s writing language, but there’s some question as to whether he’s writing a bill for the Senate Democrats or for the negotiating team.

But none of this really matters if House Speaker Michael Madigan repeats his performance from two years ago by growing weary with negotiations and running his own bill. And even if that happens, Republicans are saying that if a proposal is included which forces suburban and Downstate school districts to pick up all or even part of the employer pension contribution, it’ll be a deal killer.

As you already know, Madigan introduced three amendments on Friday to shift Personal Property Replacement Tax funds to the Teachers’ Retirement Systems. One of those amendments would essentially take every dollar generated by the corporate tax and send it to TRS. The Illinois Municipal League issued a statement yesterday decrying all three amendments: “Diversions of the magnitude proposed within the amendments would be crippling to local governments!”

Meanwhile, the Illinois Federation of Teachers is planning an in-district lobby day for tomorrow. Members are being asked to gather at legislators’ district offices to protest plans to change retirement benefits.

Teachers are mostly still in school, so organizing a Springfield protest this late in the school year was next to impossible. One of the demands the teachers will be making is that no legislation be passed “without the agreement of the unions representing employees.” Teachers unions have reportedly offered to have active members pay a couple more percentage points into the system. Teachers currently pay 9.4 percent of their payroll to the Teachers’ Retirement System. Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed a three percentage point hike.

Slow Down Pension Legislation!!!!

We have spent the past several weeks in an honest attempt to negotiate how public workers can be part of the solution Illinois’ pension challenges. Unfortunately, it’s clear that legislative leaders and the governor are planning to quickly introduce an unfair, unacceptable bill that will severely harm the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of public workers.

At the very least, lawmakers and the public should have the time to review the details of the legislation that political leaders will try to pass.

ACT NOW – call your legislators in the House and Senate 888-412-6570 or use the call now button at -www.weareoneillinois.org

Our message is simple:

DO NOT PASS A BILL WITHOUT TIME FOR SERIOUS AND THOUGHTFUL DEBATE.

Work with the unions to find a fair solution to the pension problem.

Oppose the governor’s destructive proposal or any pension legislation that puts pension debt entirely on the backs of public employees.

Our members and other public employees have faithfully made their payments to the systems, while the state and many cities have shirked their payment obligations for decades. The elected politicians’ irresponsibility has created the problem we face. To now ask public employees to pay off the entire bill is simply wrong.

Where is the shared sacrifice?

It is very likely that a pension reform bill will be introduced THIS WEEK, so please ACT NOW and call your legislators at 888-412-6570.

Be sure to check this page frequently and tell all of your friends and co-workers to sign on to FB and LIKE this page! We will be posting updates every day including important news, Action Alerts and other critical pension information in the days ahead.

We Must Slow Down Pension Legislation Now!

Thank you for your activism. Your pension depends on it.