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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky:



Saturday coffee.


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Shortly after I retired from teaching last June I sent in my dues money to IEA Retired.
A month or so later I received my plastic membership card.
Too late, I was told, for the state office in Springfield to switch my membership from active to retired so that I could run for delegate to the IEA state convention that will take place in April downtown.
It will be the first RA I haven’t attended as a delegate in several decades.
I plan to go for a couple hours Friday and Saturday as a guest so that I can report the goings on.
But the other weird thing was that I was assigned to the Skokie Unit of IEA Retired. As I have discussed, there


Old school.

Peter Gabriel.
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Entries.


designall-dllTo celebrate one million site visits I am sponsoring a contest.
Submit a tweet, haiku or limerick on a topic covered by this blog.
The deadline is March 31 or the millionth visit.
The winner gets the orange t-shirt.
The decision of the judges (that’s me) is final.
Two more entries:
From Phillip:
Agreements were made
Into our pensions we paid
Fred: “JUSTICE DELAYED!”

From Anonymous:
There once was a snake who tried to squeeze
Pensions from state retirees.
It’s no teacher pleaser,
Made up by a geezer
Who can’t see the forest for the trees!




The IFT’s Dan Montgomery. A ticket to court.

Dan Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times.
For too long, unions have been characterized as roadblocks to getting our state back on sound financial footing. Nothing can be further from the truth. Rather, we are actively suggesting solutions and want to avoid legislative action that would only result in legal battles and poor public policy.
We are not roadblocks. We are caregivers. We are emergency responders. We are public employees and teachers who do not receive Social Security. And despite having done nothing wrong, we are willing to accept some pain if it is part of a balanced plan, no matter how we got