To say the least, this has been a trying week for not only the education community but for Illinois labor in general.
Despite intense opposition from IEA members, lobbyists and all of Illinois labor, SB 1946, which reduces pension benefits for future participants in the state pension systems including TRS and SURS, passed in both the House and Senate on Wednesday.
You can see how your legislators voted: SB 1946 Roll Call 3-24-10 SB 1946 House Roll Call
On Thursday, President Swanson sent a letter to Gov. Quinn expressing his disgust “with the process and outcome which sent SB 1946 to your desk,” where it is expected to be signed very shortly. Read the letter to Gov. Quinn.
The process has received a lot of attention, particularly the fact that IEA and all other unions were shut out.
As Rich Miller at Capitol Fax told his subscribers:
What the unions really wanted, though, were negotiations involving all the big players, including Speaker Madigan. That way, they wouldn’t be put in the position of negotiating a deal with the governor and the Senate Democrats and then starting all over with Madigan. But Madigan never agreed to sit down with them and was cagey when asked whether Cullerton was negotiating for him.
In the end, Madigan ran his own bill without consulting the unions. Adding insult to injury, Madigan’s proposal looked an awful lot like Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s bill. The furor was so intense it could’ve burned down a rain forest. The unions quickly switched from compromise mode to kill mode, but to no avail.
The legislators voted knowing exactly how IEA members were feeling. Traffic on the IEA Website is up 215 percent this week and tens of thousands of emails and phone calls were sent to legislators in the last couple of days. We have had an unprecedented number of comments on the IEA Website.
It is clear that the passage of SB 1946 won’t be forgotten, but there are thousands of IEA members who have received RIF notices who are looking for action from their organization during the next week of “Back Home Lobbying.”
That is the topic of President Swanson’s video on the website. See the video
Please watch the IEA Website (www.ieanea.org) for new developments and urge your colleagues to do the same. We saw this week how swiftly the legislature can move when the right people are motivated to be swift. An easy way of staying informed is to follow IEA on Twitter: twitter.com/ieanea/
We will need to be nimble to get the results our members want and need.