According to IEA’s chief lobbyist Jim Reed and IEA President Cinda Klickna, the Cross-Fahner pension killer is done for this year.
Although the House is scheduled to reconvene November 29th, the IEA leadership is telling its members that the session will be concerned with issues other than pensions.
Is it possible that House Speaker Michael Madigan would move the issue to the floor for a vote on November 29th? Anything is possible. We’re talking about Springfield, Illinois after all.
But it appears that SB512 was beaten back once again.
Here are the numbers from the IEA:
7,000 calls were made to legislators on the “We Are One” phone number. 5,000 calls were placed on last Pension Call Tuesday alone.
The IEA claims 27,000 emails were sent through the email system on the IEA website.
Thousands more were mobilized by other state pension employee organizations and by activists among both retired and active teachers.
Special mention should be made of retired former IEA President Bob Haisman, retired teacher and blogger Glen Brown and education blogger Tim Furman, all who provided much needed information about the goings on in Springfield when information was hard to come by from the official IEA website.
One thing is for certain. A pension killer will be back next year.
Fred Klonsky 
5000? 7000? Those numbers seem low to me, considering the number of educators in Illinois that will be affected if HB 512 or any form thereof is passed. Come on, colleagues! Every call or e-mail counts, and placing the call or sending the e-mail only takes a few minutes. Many of you are years away from retirement, but believe me when I tell you that retirement and 60 or 67 sneaks up on you much quicker than you think. Make those calls! Send those e-mails!
Great points Lill. I believe our district’s IEA members responded very well. Made us proud. But remember that until a week ago Jim Reed of IEA government relations was putting out videos telling IEA members that there was no bill and no problem. For purposes of comparison, last May there were 100,000 emails sent.
Oh, I completely agree with your assessment of our PREA performance. Our members were fantastic. The lesson to be learned here is that we can’t completely trust the out of touch officers in Springfield to supply members in the field with accurate information. Make the calls. Send the e-mails. Keep the pressure on. We aren’t asking for anything other than what the Illinois Constitution guarantees us.