Saturday coffee.
It has been a busy week.
This morning is no exception.
I’m drinking my coffee early. Scrambled an egg. Toasted a slice of multi-grain bread. And out the door heading for suburban Oak Brook for the Spring Conference of the Illinois Education Association Retired.
Rumors and official responses have been circulating for a couple of weeks that the IEA and the other public employee unions have been at the table with state senate leaders discussing some kind of pension deal.
It was all kind of hush-hush until Capitalfax’s Rich Miller posted about it on his subscription-only site. And then IEA’s chief lobbyist Jim Reed posted a video response on the IEA website.
As I listened to Reed I had two responses.
He certainly sounds defensive. As if he was a kid who got caught eating the cookies mom had hid away.
And, like many members, I question what there is to bargain exactly. The leadership has already offered up 2% more in contributions to the pension system. That would make Illinois’s teacher pension contribution among the