IEA activism reborn in legislative session

Let’s be clear upfront; the failure of the Illinois House of Representatives to pass HB 174, the tax increase that would have gone a long way toward putting our state on solid fiscal footing and help bring about education equity, is a tremendous disappointment.

The fight to fix the Illinois school funding has been going on forever it seems, but it wasn’t until Saturday night that one chamber (in this case, the senate) approved a fair funding bill.

While that is progress, it’s not success.  The fight to give every student the opportunity to attend a great public school will continue until it is won.

On the positive side, pressure applied by IEA members and staff brought about one of the biggest Springfield surprises in recent years.

In March, Gov. Quinn declared that the amount employees pay for their retirements should rise significantly.  He also proposed future employees would receive lesser benefits that current employees.

That got the attention of IEA members.

If you could use a little cheering up this morning, think back to May 6, IEA Lobby Day, when Gov. Quinn told a feisty crowd of 3,000 IEA members that, because he believed in democracy he was dropping the proposed contribution increase for current employees.  Of courtse, the IEA pushback on that proposal was the main reason it was withdrawn.

However, Quinn was adamant, that a lesser tier of benefits for new employees would become the law.

Clearly he believed IEA members would grudgingly accept two-tiering, since no current education employees would be impacted.

What happened instead was that IEA mobilized:  There were local and regional postcard campaigns, email campaigns, live demonstrations, meetings in the home offices of legislators, hard-hitting radio ads and intense lobbying by the organization’s professional lobbyists.

The result was that enthusiasm among legislators for the Quinn pension proposal disappeared.    The proposal was withdrawn a day before adjournment.

IEA, working with other unions, made that happen.

Hard work by IEA leaders, rank and file members and staff in all IEA offices statewide made that happen.

We should all feel empowered by the success of that effort.

We should all want to have that feeling again.

We’re likely to have many opportunities.  For example, another attempt to create a two-tier system could come later this year.  And of course, we need fair school funding now more than ever.

The end of the session means another effort to improve conditions for students and education employees will soon begin.

Enjoy your summer.  The fight resumes soon.