From Stacey Gates at the CTU: We must protect our pensions
Dear Mike,
In carefully examining the pension "deal" put forth recently by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, we have found that the plan does not, in any way, solve Chicago's pension problem. As we have said many times before, over and over and over again: This is a revenue problem.
Our members are rightfully enraged, as the cuts that the mayor is proposing are just more of the same—more of the same burden being placed on citizens who have endured mass school closings, the closing of mental health clinics, unemployment and continued crime in our neighborhoods.
The worker retiring today under the mayor's proposal, receving $33,423 a year, would receive $40,943 a year in 20 years. In today's dollars, in 20 years, $40,943 will have the same purchasing power as $22,669. We dare the mayor to speak to any of our clerks or paraprofessionals and tell them that this terrible plan isn’t a cut.