We Are One labor coalition responds to Quinn’s pension proposal. “Insensitive and irresponsible.”
WE ARE ONE ILLINOIS STATEMENT ON PENSIONSResponding to Gov. Pat Quinn’s news conference on pensions held Friday, April 20, Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael Carrigan issued this statement for the We Are One
Illinois coalition of unions that represent public employees:
“The unions representing public employees are committed to working with Gov. Quinn and the members of the General Assembly to find a solution to the pension funding crisis
caused by the state’s failure to pay its share.
“It is crucial that the pension problem not be compounded by an unconstitutional solution that is unfair to public employees who have always paid their share. The average
public employee pension is just $32,000. Because most public employees do not receive Social Security, this modest pension is their life savings.
“Despite the willingness of the unions to engage in substantive discussions, our organizations were not asked to be part of Governor Quinn’s pension working group. We were
Ty “Tylenol” Fahner says the Governor doesn’t go far enough in proposing unconstitutional solutions.
The Civic Committee’s President, corporate lawyer Ty Fahner, likes the Governor’s proposal for unconstitutional gutting of public service employee pensions. But, he says that his big business buddies wants more.
“We’re gratified that everyone now recognizes the depth of Illinois’ pension crisis. The governor’s announcement today demonstrates important movement toward solving our pension problems, but the devil is always in the details,” said Ty Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.