Monday, June 25, 2012

Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA. « Fred Klonsky

Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA. « Fred Klonsky:


Riders, mount you steeds. Today let us talk about COLA.

Graphic: Chicago Reader
I was planning on doing a Monday post on the threats to Illinois teachers’ COLA, the cost of living increases that are a part of our TRS pension benefit.
How lucky then that my friend Glen Brown published Roger Sander’s piece on COLAs on his blog this morning too. Now you now have some important reading to do over your coffee.
Don’t expect to find this over on the IEA website.  They have been amazingly silent on this.
As of this moment there are two big threats to our pension cost of living increases.
Constitutional Amendment 49 that will appear on the November ballot and SB 1673.
Last year the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky called me the Paul Revere of SB 7.
I’m back on my horse. And we have added some more Paul Reveres too. Like Roger and Glen.
We have mounted our steeds. “The attacks on our pension are coming!”
What is SB 1673?
If passed, the bill would require teachers to choose between their present guaranteed 3% cost of living