Union ad challenges governor's pension plans

SPRINGFIELD -- After weeks of relative quiet, public employee unions are airing television ads statewide to highlight what they say is the unfairness of Gov. Pat Quinn?s pension ideas.

Union leaders say they have grown weary of Quinn?s efforts to rally business leaders behind his ideas and his use of agency directors and state government resources to argue that basic state government functions will suffer unless something is done about pensions.

The ad is an effort to counterpunch and remind lawmakers of the tens of thousands of public employees who are their constituents.

Quinn has proposed increasing employee contributions by 3 percentage points, reducing pensioners? annual cost-of-living increases from 3 percent compounded to the lesser of 3 percent or inflation ,and increasing the retirement age to 67. He has estimated his proposal would save at least $65 billion.

?Fair solution?

The union ad features shots of teachers, a police officer, a firefighter, a laborer wearing a hard hat and carrying a shovel and a nurse, all at work. Workers have offered their own pension suggestions, the ad says, but ?politicians want to take their life savings.?

The ad urges state lawmakers to ?work with them to find a fair solution.?

While restructuring the pensions of nearly all of the state?s public schoolteachers is on the table, the state pays for relatively few pensions for local police officers and firefighters and employs few nurses. Most police and firefighter pensions are paid for by local governments. So far, the governor has not proposed including them in any legislation.

However, after the legislature in 2010 changed pensions for future teachers, state workers, university employees, judges and lawmakers, it made similar changes in 2011 for not-yet-hired local police and firefighters in 2011. Some municipal officials, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, want the legislature to change benefits for their workers when benefits are restructured for workers in the five state-funded retirement systems.

Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said all of the workers pictured are public employees.

?The unions representing local police officers and firefighters are full partners in the We Are One Illinois coalition,? he said. ?I know they understand that the corporate and political attack on retirement security for teachers, state and university employees is a threat to their own retirement security.?

AFSCME, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association are with other labor groups under the umbrella of the We Are One Illinois coalition. In addition to the ad, the IFT, IEA and AFSCME posted links and telephone numbers on their websites that connect members directly to their lawmakers.

Concessions offered

Union groups fear legislative leaders and the governor will abandon talks and ram pension changes through the General Assembly this week, so they are urging their members to call lawmakers now. The unions were caught flatfooted when the 2010 pension bill passed both legislative chambers in less than a day.

Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said talks continue ?in every corner of this building.?

The IFT, IEA and AFSCME say they have offered concessions at the negotiating table, although they decline to detail them or offer an overall union plan to address the state?s $85 billion in debt.? The IFT said labor?s ideas would cost members more money and save the state billions of dollars.

Those familiar with the talks say the unions have also talked about finding new revenue, but a tax increase to address the pension problem is viewed as dead on arrival by most lawmakers. Much of the 2011 income tax increase, which increased the individual income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent has been eaten up by increases in pension and Medicaid spending.

?Despite our efforts, some lawmakers and the governor continue to try and solve the problems they created by placing the entire pension burden on the backs of workers ? that is unfair and unacceptable,? the IFT wrote in an e-mail to its members.

?Top IFT leaders spent the past several weeks in an honest attempt to determine how public workers can be part of a solution to Illinois? pension challenges. Unfortunately, it?s clear that legislative leaders and the governor are now working to quickly introduce and pass an unfair, unacceptable bill that will severely harm the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of public worker.?

State Capitol Bureau reporter Doug Finke contributed to this report. Chris Wetterich can be reached at (217) 788-1523.
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