A teacher-made video on pensions.

| Fred Klonsky

Brandi Martin, a talented art teacher, sent me the video she made on teacher pensions.

22 thoughts on “A teacher-made video on pensions.”

  3. Can you get SOMEONE with some $$$ (there’s got to be SOMEONE out there!!!) to get this aired on TV?!

    Hey–I’ve got an idea!!! How about using some of the IEA $$$ we pay to IEA from the Communications budget?! How about it, Charlie McBarron? Another idea! Let’s all MASS e-mail him to do it. I’m going to e-mail him RIGHT NOW!

    (Irony: As I was writing the last sentence–as the Channel 5 News was on–the CCoCC
    commercial came on.)

    Reply

  4. I need all the #s to not get caught up in partial truths. Everytime I defend our pensions I am asked what the state(taxpayers) are kicking in.

    Tell me the %

    teachers 9.4%
    districts .58%
    state ?

    Reply

      1. Teachers 9.4% – Districts o.58% – State(taxpayers) 6.0%
        Is this correct?

        Is the 6.0% what the state continues to forget to send to the pension fund?
        or
        is it the entire 15.98%?

      2. Teacher contributions are paid in full. You keep saying “state (taxpayers).” Teachers are public employees. All teacher compensation is paid through taxes. The state’s contribution to TRS is part of our overall compensation package. No different than saying we get paid for Monday and Tuesday and the taxpayers pay Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

      3. Thanks for your prompt answers to my questions. I had no intention of causing ill-will with my references to state(taxpayers). I am a retired teacher and find myself being educated for the first time through your blog. I forward the contents to many of my fellow retirees, rationalizing to them we still have a stake in public education and its future. I do not fear having conversations with the general public, but find myself at a loss for responses to some of their counters. The public has found themselves believing the propoganda bought and dispersed by ill-willed wealthy organizations. I am doing all I can to make sure I speak the truth and not lie through omission. It has become difficult being a retired educator. I can only imagine how it feels being an educator currently in the classroom. The general public does not want to paymore taxes to foot the bill for our retirement. Can we not get the message out that they did pay for it, but the state has not (for a long time) put the money in its intended place?

      4. No offense taken. There is tons of disinformation flowing about teacher salaries, working conditions, benefits and pensions. They have turned us into political activists in spite of ourselves. Maybe that all for the good. Although it does cut into our teaching preparation. Thanks for your efforts and your questions.

  5. I just saw the CCoCC commercial 3 MORE times on the 3 Chicago news channels (2,5,7) at 10 PM yet AGAIN. I e-mailed a number of people & asked them to e-mail Charlie McBarron (IEA Communications) to implore him to get BRANDI’s video ON the tube. He e-mailed me back & stated that he’s “a great fan of Brandi’s,” but nothing about the IEA spending any (of OUR) $$$ on airing this. (He asked me to call him.) As I have a limited amount of time during office hours (assuming I can ONLY call him at the IEA Office during office hours), I would like to know if this would, in fact, be a waste of time.

    What do you think, Fred?

    Reply

    1. Charlie isn’t lying, he suggested a change to the video which I made.
      Whatever ad we put out, we should put out something, that explains that teachers do NOT get social security, that we paid most of the money already, and the state bungled it, why should teachers pay TWICE, and that pensions save taxpayers a boatload of money when done right. That message needs to be out there, right now.

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      2. Thanks, Brandi! Okay, then, I didn’t mean to imply that Charlie was lying, I just want to know if the IEA is going to put your video out there? We’re in NATO (No Action Talk Only) mode, &, since he’s the IEA Communications Director (hope I have his title exactly right), & he told you to make changes, then, now, it’s time to take some of that $$$ we pay the IEA & put it out there–RIGHT AFTER THOSE TERRIBLE CCoCC commercials! Yours is so good & theirs so blah…
        In any event, let’s stop talking & get it DONE! EVERYONE–e-mail Charlie & tell him that we want the IEA to AIR THE VIDEO NOW!

  6. They are just doing radio ads, they said.
    I knew you weren’t calling him a liar, it was just a figure of speech!
    I don’t think they are going to spend money on air time. Instead of trying to make other people do things, what can we do?
    Can every union member email or FB it?
    Can it be sent to television or radio stations that might play a clip as part of a news program, the way Maddow does?

    Reply

    1. Brandi, e-mail it to Maddow & to Ed Schultz (although I tried sending them some information & nothing ever happened). Put it out there on e-mail to IEA, so that it can be e-mailed to us, & we can e-mail to our reps. E-mail it to Chicago Tonight (shouldn’t someone from IEA have been on Chicago Tonight? I think Cross was &, perhaps, Fahner, too.)

      Reply

    1. Teachers in Illinois do not pay into Social Security. Therefore they cannot collect it. If they worked in addition to teaching and paid into Social Security, their benefits are greatly reduced.

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    2. Dear “CCCC”, I’d be happy to show you my pay stub. Teachers who have only taught school can not collect social security when their spouse dies. If the teachers had never worked a day in their lives, at any job, they could.

      Reply

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