The in box. Madigan is impatient. Make the call NOW. 888-412-6570.
Madigan’s ImpatientIn “The Lottery,” a chilling fable by Shirley Jackson, a town politician guides his small town citizenry to find a single townsperson to stone to death in order to assure the safety of the village for another year. If you’re a pensioner, I don’t recommend you read this anywhere near sharp objects.If you have not read it: Spoiler Alert! After the village has trod the carefully managed and orchestrated procedure, targeting the poor soul Tessie Hutchinson, the village manager exhorts them to hurry up the sacrifice. “All right, Folks,” Mr. Summers said. “Let’s finish quickly.”They have Mr. Summers.We have Mr. Madigan.Speaker of the House Madigan has presided over the theft of billions of dollars owed the retirement systems of the public sector unions for over thirty years. He’s been party to it for forty
GOP’s Cross and Dem’s Nekritz file a new pension bill. It just gets worse and worse.
From CapitolFax:
* House Republican Leader Tom Cross and Rep. Elaine Nekritz have filed a new pension reform bill, HB 3411. Video of the press conference, viaBlueRoomStream.com, is here.
It appears to have a sorta kinda cost shift in it. From the press release…
• Creates Tier 3 defined benefit/defined contribution plan for SURS and TRS members who start work after January 1, 2014. Local Employers and employees will be responsible for funding these plans.
The in box. Urgent. Call NOW. Madigan is calling the pension cutting bills this week. Urgent. Call NOW.
From the IEA:
On Tuesday, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan announced there will be a “weekly order of business” session of the Illinois House this week, focused on pensions.
This means there will be floor debate on legislative amendments that, if passed into law, would reduce pension benefits for participants in TRS, SURS and the other state pension systems.
The floor debate and voting, which are expected to begin on Thursday, will focus on areas of great concern to IEA members in the affected pension systems;
This is a serious attack on your pension– Call NOW!
- The annual cost of living adjustment (COLA)
- The retirement age for active members of the state pension systems
- Employee contributions to the retirement systems, as well other pension-impacting proposals offered by members of the House.
IEA members are urged to contact their state representatives immediately to stop these pension-cutting proposals from getting out of the House.
Tell your representative that the only proposals they should support are those calling for guaranteed funding of the state pension systems and for a dedicated source of revenue for pensions, such as pension obligation bonds.
Also, be sure to tell your representative that the employee contributions must not be increased more than two percentage points.
Make the call NOW! Call 888-412-6570 to be connected to your state representative. Print out this information so you can refer to it when you get your representative on the phone,
Floor debate is expected to begin Thursday. So make the call now.
Be sure to check the IEA website regularly for updates.
Make the call NOW!
More on Monday’s meet up with Biss and Nekritz. More on Bizarro World.
I have already posted about Monday night’s pension forum at Niles North High School sponsored by the North Suburban Teachers Union of the IFT.
The political cynicism and pension ignorance of the legislative participants (Biss, Nekritz, Fine and Gabel) were on display for all to see.
Representative Fine, a newbie, said nothing.
Gabel, who must have thought she was too cool for school, made some lame comment about something she heard from somebody in TRS about amortization. That was her singular contribution to the discussion. Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability immediately shot down.
Both Gabel and Nekritz tried to suggest that the TRS board agreed with them, but the TRS board has taken no
Pat Fioretto. Just to be clear.
Pat Fioretto, a member of the Park Ridge school board, wrote and accused me of being less than accurate in my post yesterday about the current state of employee – management relations in District 64.
Just to be clear.
He suggested I had made judgments about the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement between the PREA and the board.
I didn’t.
He suggested I had made judgments about the current content of bargaining between the PRTAA and the board.
I didn’t.
He suggested I called the board scumbags.
I didn’t.
He said I called them Scrooges.
That’s true.
What they are offering the non-union secretaries, health assistants and custodians qualifies as Scrooge-like.
He claims collective bargaining “always works.”
While I am a die-hard defender of the right to collective bargaining, I make no claim that it always works. Not for the employees anyway.
It is better than the alternative.
What is the alternative?
Exactly what the current District 64 Board of Education is doing to the secretaries, health assistants and custodians.
Giving them a take-it-or-leave-it compensation package.
Tell me Pat. If you believe collective bargaining always works, why don’t you and your colleagues engage in collective bargaining with all your district employees?
Just to be clear.
He suggested I had made judgments about the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement between the PREA and the board.
I didn’t.
He suggested I had made judgments about the current content of bargaining between the PRTAA and the board.
I didn’t.
He suggested I called the board scumbags.
I didn’t.
He said I called them Scrooges.
That’s true.
What they are offering the non-union secretaries, health assistants and custodians qualifies as Scrooge-like.
He claims collective bargaining “always works.”
While I am a die-hard defender of the right to collective bargaining, I make no claim that it always works. Not for the employees anyway.
It is better than the alternative.
What is the alternative?
Exactly what the current District 64 Board of Education is doing to the secretaries, health assistants and custodians.
Giving them a take-it-or-leave-it compensation package.
Tell me Pat. If you believe collective bargaining always works, why don’t you and your colleagues engage in collective bargaining with all your district employees?
The in box. Park Ridge board member Pat Fioretto takes exception to my post.
Good afternoon, Fred.
I always have enjoyed reading your posts. I thought , overall, you have been fair with your recitation of facts. Indeed, on most issues I agree with you. However, I think you missed some important facts on this one. You really should talk to the groups who have been impacted by the lowlife BOE. Or, perhaps you can review the video which should be posted on the District’s website shortly. I also would be willing to talk to you or anyone else who might care enough to learn the facts. Most of the individuals who stood in solidarity and spoke (eloquently) to the Board last night, chose to leave before the BOE addressed the matter. You know how to get in touch with me if you wish. I normally do not post comments on blogs, I prefer talking to people–like you and I have done in the past. However, since I am now being accused of being one of those “scumbags,” as referred to by one of your friends, I felt compelled to offer another version of the facts. The PRTAA