What the IEA says about SB2404:
“Access to State-provided healthcare/insurance is currently not guaranteed by the constitution. If SB 2404 is passed, State-provided healthcare would become a vested and enforceable contractual right, a status it does not have today.”
What John Cullerton says about SB2404:
“The vested and enforceable contractual right to a program of health benefits is NOT offered as, and shall NOT be considered, a pension or retirement benefit under Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution, the Illinois Pension Code, or any subsequent or successor enactment providing pension benefits…”
If, as the the IEA says, nothing has changed, why did Cullerton add his amendment at the last moment to SB2404?
If nothing has changed, what are we getting as consideration for giving up our COLA?
Then in sudden shift, the IEA says SB2404 changes things by making it a vested contractual right? But Cullerton says no way. Not under the pension provision of the Constitution, the pension code or anywhere else.
Compare and Contrast. The truth about SB2404.
What the IEA says:
Choice A
- No change to 3% compounded COLA, except that COLA is subject to 2 non-consecutive 1-year freezes, and then return to 3% compounded COLA for life
- Receive retiree healthcare access
Choice B
- No change to 3% compounded COLA
- No access to state health care insurance
The reality:
“Choice” A
- The TRS COLA would continue to be 3 percent compounded annually calculated from the member’s currentpension.
- A staggered automatic two year forfeiture of the member’s COLA after the effective date of the bill.
- Access to state health insurance with the possibility of paying 100% of the premium.
“ Choice” B
- The TRS COLA would continue to be 3 percent compounded annually calculated from the member’s current pension.
- No access to state health insurance.
What Cinda Klickna doesn’t say about SB2404. Why we are not somebody else’s constituency.
Here’s is IEA President Cinda Klickna’s message to IEA members about Senate Bill 2404.
She attacks the IRTA as a “single constituency advocacy group.”
Of course, the single constituency she means are the retired members of the IEA in TRS. We are a rather important constituency when discussing pensions.
The stuff about administrators is silly.
IEA-Retired has retired administrators as well.
I was speaking at a luncheon of the IRTA last week. When I asked for a show of hands as to how many had been in the IEA or were IEA-Retired, half raised their hands. The other half had been in the IFT.
We are the same constituency, Cinda.
The real problem with this letter to members is what it doesn’t say.
There is no mention of John Cullerton’s last minute addition to SB2404 which requires retirees to pay 100% percent of their health insurance. It will more than double the cost of health care premiums to those who are already taking a two year freeze on their COLA.
Some might want to ask President Klickna and the other members of the We Are One coalition why she doesn’t mention this?
To: IEA-R Members
From: Cinda Klickna, Kathi Griffin, Al Llorens
RE: SB2404
By now you have heard about SB 2404, the pension bill negotiated and agreed to by the We Are One Coalition (WAOI), of which IEA is a member. The other members of the coalition are other public employee unions.
We would like to take this opportunity to clarify the agreement to help you understand why the coalition agreed to SB 2404.
SB 2404 is backed by IEA elected leaders, retirees
IEA leadership entered into negotiations with Senate President John Cullerton with the full approval of the IEA Board of Directors. The board’s direction to us was to negotiate, if possible, to get the best outcome for our members.
Secondly, after the details of the Cullerton-Coalition bill were made public, the IEA Retired Council reviewed the provisions and voted to approve the agreement.
We know many of you have dual memberships in both IEA-R and IRTA and have wondered why the two organizations have two different positions. We will explain.
Unions vs. single constituency advocacy groups
IRTA solely represents retired school employees, including administrators. IRTA is not a union. It is an advocacy organization for retirees.
IEA represents a much larger, far more diverse group, made up of retirees and active employees working in higher education and in k-12 education. We also represent ESPs.
We represent very few administrators.
Every day, IEA leaders are dealing with the impact of the state budget on our members; ESPs are losing jobs, k-12 employees are being RIF’d and/or taking freezes. Higher ed members have had their classes cut, affecting their take home pay.
No one can dispute that the pension systems are in financial trouble. There is simply not enough money to sustain them for the years to come.
We, as an organization, are committed to fighting to make sure both our active and retired members get their defined benefit pensions.
Constitutionality
SB 2404, the Cullerton-Coalition bill, is a choice model proposal that asks active and retired members to accept a benefit change in exchange for something of value. That concept is what gives the bill the greatest chance of being constitutional. And what retirees are getting in exchange for a two-year, non-consecutive freeze on their COLA is enforceable contractual access to state-provided healthcare.
IRTA and IEA have different views on its constitutionality.
The bill, which is 190+ pages, only became public on Monday, May 6. Immediately, IRTA claimed it had an opinion which says that that the bill is unconstitutional. And while opinions may differ as no court has directly decided the constitutionality of such a choice proposal, the IEA General Counsel, the WAOI attorneys and the Senate president’s attorney, who have had time to write and review every word of the proposal, however, have all agreed that the union-backed plan has the greatest chance of being found constitutional.
It is important to emphasize that enforceable contractual access to state-provided healthcare is not currently a contractual right.
The state could decide at any time to end access to state-provided healthcare. In addition, written into the bill is language that forces the state to fund the pensions, something they have not been required to do before, and makes that requirement a constitutional obligation.
This is the choice affecting current retirees (and Tier I Actives Already Set to Retire as of 1/1/2013)
Choice A
- No change to 3% compounded COLA, except that COLA is subject to 2 non-consecutive 1-year freezes, and then return to 3% compounded COLA for life
- Receive retiree healthcare access
Choice B
- No change to 3% compounded COLA
- No retiree healthcare access
We appreciate that retirees and actives are being asked to sacrifice, but we believe that this bill will help ensure that every IEA member will get the pension they have been promised.
We are a union. We must look out for each other.
It is regrettable that the IRTA won’t join with organized labor and support SB 2404.
As a union that is part of a labor coalition, we do not have the luxury of just saying “no” to any changes. A tremendous amount of work has gone into making sure this proposal is constitutional and fair to all.
Please tell your state Representative to VOTE “YES” on Senate Bill 2404, the Cullerton-Coalition pension bill. Stay informed about the latest developments by regularly checking the IEA website.
Chicago’s West Side says no to closing schools.
Photos: Fred Klonsky. May 18, 2013.
The in box. “Enough crap about ‘shared sacrifice.’ We paid and paid. The state did not. What’s happening is theft!”
Fred,
Here’s an email sent on May 16 to SUAA (the association for state university retirees) after a May 15 meeting held at WIU. So far, no response.
We attended the SURS meeting at WIU on May 15, and we are outraged at what we heard.
SUAA must join the Retired Teachers Assn. lawsuit against whatever bill the General Assembly comes up with, as any of those proposals constitute terrible discrimination against the elderly in Illinois, and likely are unconstitutional. They’re also a huge financial hit against the membership.
We hope you are reading the blogs, especially Fred Klonsky’s blog, about these issues. He has it right.
The meeting was appalling. We are forced to make health coverage choices now without complete information. Apparently there will be a do-over in 6 months, at what cost to the state and the pensioners?
The legislation already passed allows the CMS to set the rates for health coverage, without any checks and balances. What is to stop CMS from pricing the coverage out of everyone’s reach, at 10 or 15 percent or more of the annuity and very high deductibles? (That has already happened with Quality Care.)
Nothing can stop CMS, we were told when the question was asked.
Where was SUAA when this legislation passed? Where are the checks and balances here?
Medicare beneficiaries can opt out of state coverage, but to what? A salesman told us there is medical underwriting for Medigap policies, and that the Affordable Care Act does not apply to them. That makes them very expensive for some.
Anyone who opts out loses dental coverage. Why? Who decided that? It’s a separate payment.
SUAA should set up a dental plan for its members. It’s easy, and has been done by small groups everywhere. We were once part of a plan set up by a union of 120 members, and the rates and coverage were better than the state’s plan.
SB 2404, which SUAA is lobbying for, is merely the lesser of evils and will harm many of its members. As well it contains hidden dangers, such as pricing the health coverage out of reach. And if the GA is successful, they will come back for more, the better to allow tax loopholes to continue (and the campaign contributions that goes with them.)
They are solving the state’s financial problems on the backs of the pensioners, who can least afford it, and many of whom are too old or sick or uninformed to know what’s going on.
Instead of lobbying for the lesser of evils, show some leadership and fight for your membership. The Retired Teachers Assn. knows better than to swallow this swill, and so should you. No money? Hold fund raisers.
Enough crap about ‘shared sacrifice.’ We paid and paid. The state did not. What’s happening is theft!
If you want to recruit members, do something to justify your existence rather than roll over like a dead dog.
Elaine and George Hopkins
Peoria/Macomb, IL.
Saturday coffee.
It’s a beautiful Chicago Spring morning.
The dogwood in the backyard is showing its blossoms. The vine is filling in the lattice.
The temperature is expected to hit 80 today. At 8:30 it is already 70.
In about an hour Anne and I will head over to Lafayette School on Augusta in West Town. It is one of the 54 schools Rahm has targeted for shutdown in his plan to close a historic number of neighborhood public schools while opening more charters.
He wants to spend millions on a new basketball arena for the private Catholic DePaul University. But he has no money for libraries, mental health centers and schools.
Karen Lewis was re-elected Chicago Teachers Union president yesterday by a majority that would make the old Mayor Daley senior smile.
Not because he would agree with the politics of the small-d democratic union leader. But because he would appreciate a kick-ass electoral victory.
Lewis and the Caucus of Rank and File Educators had opposition.
Chicago has been the un-Cheers for this sorry bunch. A place where nobody knows their names.
MK Communications, their big-D Democratic Party-connected PR firm, did a heck of a job.
They were made up of an unholy alliance of past union self-styled reformers and bureaucrats who had the audacity to complain that CORE and Lewis hadn’t done enough to stop the school closings.
We missed the victory party at Reggie’s last night.
But we will be celebrating this morning.
Here is the route and schedule of today and tomorrow’s “Old-Style Civil Rights March.”
Rally Monday at 4 downtown.
The in box. “What a screw job!”
Fred,
Excellent work Fred! I questioned the same remark but fell asleep before pursuing it.
I was at an IFT sponsored healthcare meeting Thursday with reps from TRS and Central Management Services. CMS stated that our total premium for TCHP Is about $1,000.00 per month. currently the state pays half and we pay half. This would make SB 2404 a cost of $12,000 a year to retirees and 6% over a lifetime. What a SCREW JOB! It actually makes the state money.
Diane
