October 28, 2011
By Rhonda Reed-Slaughter
On Wednesday, October 26, 2011, public employee workers across the State joined forces at the “Stand Up For Workers” rally held at the State Capitol Rotunda in Springfield, Illinois.
The Number Crunchers witness the event first hand, and had the opportunity to discuss State pension reform with representatives from Bolingbrook’s police and firefighters’ union. Both unions attended the event to lend support to the State union employees.
AFSCME, Teamsters, laborers, and service employee unions were also in attendance.
Here’s the primary issue with the public employee workers
Many of them take issue with being blamed for the State pension crisis. The grossly underfunded pension liability ($85 billion and growing) can be directly attributed to legislators and governors failing to fund the pension, and skipping payments.
According to protestors, the message in the media is unfair. Most public union workers do not retire with Cadillac plans. Since they don’t collect social security, they rely solely on the state pension. Very few retire with Cadillac plans.
Bolingbrook Police and Firefighters union weigh-in on the debate
The police and firefighters’ pension plans are managed by their respective boards. They are not part of the state pension plan. So technically, they don’t have a dog in this fight.
Even still, they don’t believe state workers are getting a fair deal, and decided to support them in protest.
Keith George, VP MAP, Chapter 3, Bolingbrook Police Dept.
"The reason there's a (State) pension crisis is because politicians have raided the pension funds, now the notes have come due, they don't want to pay."
It's unfair to blame the public employees. There's a lot of misinformation out there. The media sends a message that public employees are retiring with Cadillac plans. That's not true. The average public employee pension is $25-32k."
Matt Olson, President, Bolingbrook Firefighters Association, Local 3005
“To summarize the main issue, here it is, all they (public workers) want is for the State to pay as agreed. The public employees have been doing their part by contributing. The State needs to do what’s right and pay their share."
"Where did the money (amount underfunded) go? It’s not the employees fault.”
Note: According to Keith George (MAP) and Matt Olson (BFA), The Bolingbrook police and firefighters' pensions are well funded. The Village of Bolingbrook has done well with keeping the pensions funded at approximately 70%.
Most of us can agree, State pension reform is way overdue. Legislators have already moved forward with changing how new teachers earn their pension, but what about those State union workers that are retiring today, or set to retire in just a few years? Is it fair to switch the rules, after decades of service, and contributions?
Please take a moment to think about this issue. How should legislators handle the State pension crisis for the existing employees, newly hired and future employees?
Pension reform is a complex issue that deserve some serious thought.
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