CHICAGO - In today’s State of
the State address, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn made multiple references to
“getting the job done” and also claimed to have ended the culture of
instability that existed in Illinois government. He highlighted the strides
that the state has made in working with women and minority-owned businesses.
The problem is that his claims about the benefits of education reform and
championing an agreement on comprehensive pension reform don’t meet any of
these tests.
Education reform as done in Illinois promotes instability
and privatization, disproportionately and negatively impacts women and people
of color, and makes it difficult for parents and educators to “get the job
done.” The pension reform the governor cited as the “tallest task of all” is
currently being challenged in Illinois Circuit Court by the We Are One Illinois
coalition of labor unions for violating the pension clause of the Illinois
Constitution, which states that a public pension is a contract that the State
of Illinois cannot diminish or impair.
We stand in support with the teacher and service unions
throughout the state who filed suit yesterday, as well as the more than 20 individual
retirees named as plaintiffs. As we prepare to aggressively defend our own
public pensions here in Chicago, we stand up for some of the most important
people in our community—those who have already served, paid a great debt to the
people of our city and state and have paid into their pension systems only to
be told they won’t get the money they deserve.
“There are many ways to solve the state’s economic problems,
but these legislators insist on doing it on the backs of its workers by
ignoring the pension heist and not taking into consideration the consequences
to our communities,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “They’re destroying the
morale of the people who are actually doing the work and threatening the security
of those who have already served. We call on the governor to end this pension
heist.”
Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians will join
other municipal workers in a mass pension rally in Springfield on February 19.
For more information visit www.ctunet.com.
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