Lawmakers cut public-employee pension benefits

 

In the face of stiff opposition from the entire Illinois labor movement, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to create a second tier of benefits for all new hires who will participate in SERS, SURS, IMRF, Cook County and City of Chicago pension systems.

 

AFSCME members from around the state flooded legislators with phone calls on March 23 and 24, but legislators turned a deaf ear, choosing instead to follow the dictates of legislative leaders doing the bidding of big business interests that seek to solve the state’s budget crisis on the backs of public employees, while drastically cutting public services.

 

Gov. Pat Quinn has indicated he will quickly sign the measure into law.

 

“We’re deeply disappointed that so many legislators were unwilling to stand up for hard-working Illinois families,” Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer said. “What’s worse, this legislation doesn’t do a single thing to address the state’s current fiscal mess.

 

“It merely does the bidding of the corporate elite who have been waging an unrelenting campaign against retirement security for working families, especially those who work in the public sector. We have no doubt that this is only their opening salvo.”

 

On the morning after the bill passed, the Chicago Tribune termed the bill “less than half a loaf” and called for a similar cut for current public employees, for all benefits going forward, while keeping the current level for only those benefits already earned.

 

Click here for a summary of the bill.

 

Click here to see how your state representative voted.

 

Click here to see how your senator voted.