Pssst! Come here. Yeah, you!
Now, keep your voice low and listen.
The effort IEA members have been putting forth in defense of education quality is making a difference.
Exhibit A: On May 6, Governor Pat Quinn threw in the towel on his attempt to force current TRS and SURS participants to contribute an additional 2% of their paychecks to their pensions.
Quinn’s rationale had been that, since the pension systems are in financial difficulty, the people who will receive pensions should pay more even though it was the failure of the state legislature and past governors to fund the pensions that caused the problems.
The Quinn proposal generated a lot of activity.
- Inside the Statehouse, IEA lobbyists made the Association case to lawmakers.
- Outside, IEA members were telling their state legislators that upping contributions for current employees was unacceptable.
The huge Lobby Day turnout was the icing on the cake. Telling the feisty crowd of 3,000 education emplotees, “I believe in democracy,” Gov. Quinn dropped the 2% idea.
However, in the next breath, the governor stated bluntly that a lesser set of benefits for future employees would happen.
Well, it still could come to pass, but a funny thing occurred en route to the “slam dunk” Quinn and others anticipated for their planned imposition of benefit reductions on new hires.
Here’s a partial list of what’s happened since the latest IEA initiative on the Quinn pension plan started April 6.
• “Back Home Lobby Days” in early-mid April saw hundreds of IEA members meet with dozens of legislators in their home districts.
• Then there was the demonstration at a Democratic fundraiser in Rockford that saw hundreds of IEA members take to the public their case for protecting pensions and fair school funding.
• IEA ran an aggressive statewide radio ad campaign in early May in support of keeping pension benefits for present and future IEA members intact. The ads raised the profile of the issue and put some lawmakers on the defensive.
• The May 6 IEA Lobby Day, with 3,000 attendees, was the biggest IEA-only event in recent memory and sent a strong message to lawmakers.
On top of all this, there has been unprecedented cyber-lobbying. Visits to the IEA Website are up 36% from last year. More than 50,000 54,500 emails have been sent to legislators this year and more than 26,000 30,000 of those have come since May 1.
Add to that the contacts IEA members have been making with lawmakers on their own, and what you have is activism that is making a difference. Without the effort by thousands of IEA members, that 2 % proposal probably stays in the bill. Now we’re getting indications that the some of the legislative fervor to cut pensions for future hires is dissipating.
We haven’t won. But, we have a shot, something our opponents were pretty sure we didn’t have a couple of months ago. We still need the involvement of more members. You can help recruit members by urging your colleagues to go to the Website and send email to their legislators.
LET’S KEEP THE PRESSURE ON
When the Memorial Day weekend ends, the pace at the Statehouse will increase from a trot to a gallop. It’s highly likely that proposals that we don’t like will come forward at surprising times when it will be difficult to contact members to urge them to get on the phone or send emails.
Our key messages remain:
- Pass an income tax increase that will allows the state to address the budget crisis and fund education at all levels; from PreK, through elementary and secondary, through higher education.
- Reject any proposal to two-tier benefits for future employees.
- Make the scheduled payments to the pension systems to keep them strong.
To stay informed:
- Please check the IEA Website regularly until adjournment.
- As we near the May 31 deadline, you can expect to see new information posted regularly each day.
- Please make sure IEA has on file the email address you check regularly, as opposed to your school address.
- You will get the IEA e-newsletters insider and Capitol Report through that address and you are encouraged to forward those publications and any other information you receive to other IEA members.
- Click this link to contact your legislators today. Urge your colleagues to do the same.
The legislative leaders are determined to end this session by May 31; after that date, Republican votes will be needed to pass important legislation. The key leaders prefer for that not to happen.
Make the call today and stay in touch next week.
We’re having an impact and we could do even more in the next week and a half if enough IEA members get involved.
Illinois Education Association is an association of more than 130,000 members composed of Illinois elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
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