Pension emergency – take action today!

Take action today to protect your pension. Legislators will vote tomorrow, Dec. 3, on big pension cuts. Call toll-free now at (888) 412-6570.

This backroom deal crafted by the top four legislative leaders is a major threat to the retirement security of public employees and retirees, and it’s going to take major action to defeat it.

We’ve got to make sure lawmakers hear from us before a vote is taken—and that they know just how strongly we feel about protecting our pensions.

You may have called your legislators during the We Are One Illinois call-in days earlier this week. But you need to call them again on Monday, Dec. 2. Tell them you’ve paid into your pension all these years when the state did not—and you expect them to stand up for you now.

Call toll-free on the We Are One Illinois hotline
Just dial 888-412-6570 or click-to-call
Simply enter your zip code to be connected directly to your legislators  

We have to burn up the phone lines and e-mail boxes too. Don’t let your legislators get away with saying they didn’t know how strongly you felt.

• The big hit, as anticipated, is to the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA). It will begin to go down right away for all current retirees—and will be reduced by as much as 30 percent over 20 years of retirement.
• Current employees will be hit by that same change to the COLA calculation—with the same loss of purchasing power over time when they retire. In addition, the COLA will be frozen altogether for up to five years for any current employee when he/she retires.
• The retirement age will be raised by as much as five years for all employees under age 45.
• To give this scheme a veneer of constitutionality, current employees will have their pension contribution reduced by 1%.

Make sure you call your state senator and state representative on Dec. 2. Our message is clear: I deserve retirement security. I urge you to vote NO on the new pension bill endorsed by the legislative leaders.

It’s critical that they hear from us before it’s too late.