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No debate on Madigan’s pension push

BY KURT ERICKSON
The Southern Springfield Bureau

SPRINGFIELD — A plan to divert more than a billion dollars from local governments to help finance the state’s pension systems was not called for a vote Wednesday in a House committee.

Rather, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who is sponsoring the controversial proposal, said talks aimed at resolving the state’s employee retirement programs remain under way as lawmakers head into the final two weeks of the scheduled legislative session.

“I think the give and take is healthy,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Wednesday evening.

A House panel had been scheduled to discuss a plan Wednesday to divert a 2.5 percent tax on corporations away from local governments to help make up for years of underfunding of the pension systems by lawmakers and previous governors. Cities, park districts and smaller units of government would have to cut services, lay off employees or raise property taxes to offset the diversion.

The legislation, which is opposed by local governments and school districts, is among a menu of pension fixes being debated under the Statehouse dome as the clock ticks down on the spring session. Other proposals on the table include raising the retirement age and requiring state workers, university employees and school district personnel to pay a higher percentage of their salaries toward their pensions.

We Are One Illinois, a coalition of unions representing public employees, began gearing up this week to fight some of the changes by rolling out an advertising campaign urging workers to begin pressing members of the House and Senate to back off when it comes to changing pension rules.

Hoping to counterpunch the union-led campaign, Gov. Pat Quinn launched a new website called www.saveourstate.illinois.gov to try and rally support for his plan to eliminate the state’s unfunded pension liability within three decades.

“We owe it to the next generation to rise to the occasion in the next 15 days and restore fiscal stability to Illinois,” Quinn said in a statement. “It’s important for the people of Illinois to make their voices heard like never before and urge their legislators to address these difficult challenges.”

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Teachers
Local teachers converge at Forby's office

BY BECKY MALKOVICH
The Southern

BENTON — When Bob Sloan of West Frankfort retired in 2005 after more than three decades as a teacher, he thought he had planned well for his retirement.

But the state’s financial turmoil is making him second-guess those plans.

“It’s just scary,” he said. “Who knows what the future holds?”

In hopes of having a say in what his future holds, he joined dozens of local teachers for a rally at state Sen. Gary Forby’s Benton office Wednesday, part of a larger statewide effort aimed at giving teachers and other public employees a voice in pension reform.

The day of action came as the state continues to consider its options in cleaning up the pension mess left after years of underfunding by the state.

“The public employees have done a 100 percent in fulfilling their responsibility for funding their part of the pensions. The state of Illinois has failed to do that and that’s why we’re here today. They want us to pay what they have not. We are not the bad guys; we’ve done our part,” Jim Chamness, an executive vice president with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said.

Teachers and other public employees have negotiated for their pension and benefits over the years, he said, and expected promises made would be kept.

At the very least, he said, the employees should have a say in pension reform and have been willing to work on a solution but “the leadership in Springfield appears to be ready to act without us,” he said.

Susan Malkovich, a 28-year teacher and president of IFT Local 817 in West Frankfort, said teachers only want what was promised them.

“We shouldn’t be held accountable because the state mismanaged the money, and they shouldn’t try and fix this on the backs of teachers and retirees,” she said.

The group didn’t get to talk to Forby because he was in Springfield on Wednesday, however “He has always been very, very good to us and we hope he is behind us again,” IFT field representative Keith Griffith said.

Forby said he understands how the public employees feel and that they should be in on pension reform talks.

“They feel like if you work for something all your life, you deserve it. I feel the same way,” he said Wednesday. “They need to be part of the negotiations instead of having something thrown down their throats.”