The most ironic aspect of last week’s vote to slash pension benefits for future employees was that lawmakers, who often claim education employees try to avoid accountability, voted to punish innocent people for the irresponsible actions of, well, themselves.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, led by Speaker Michael Madigan, rammed SB 1946 though both chambers of the General Assembly. (If your legislators’ name doesn’t appear here, he/she voted for the pension proposal)
You would think the business interests who pushed for that action, the advocates for Illinois’ “haves,” would be happy. After all, within a few hours this week, they stuck it, big time, to every future state employee, including public school teachers, higher education faculty and support staff.
But no. The members of Illinois’ loudest unoppressed minority are not happy. From Crain’s:
Taking benefits away from workers who don’t exist yet is politically easy. Cutting the benefits of existing workers who feel entitled to them is politically hard. Unless Mr. Madigan, state Senate President John Cullerton and Gov. Pat Quinn are willing to face that political risk, pension expenses will bury the state. They can start by requiring current state workers to accept the same terms last week’s legislation imposes on new employees, such as:
- Raise the age for retirement with full pension benefits
- Reduce cost-of-living increases for pensioners
- Base pension payments on an employee’s average salary for eight of the last 10 years of employment rather than four
They should go a step further by adopting a measure Mr. Quinn once backed that would raise the amount state workers contribute to their pension plans.
Can they do that? The answer would appear to be “no”. Article 13, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution states:
Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.
If that seems clear to you, congratulations. You have a soul.
However, the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune is not similarly encumbered.
A legal analysis by Chicago’s Sidley Austin LLP concludes that, under the constitution, “(S)tatutory pension rights are not frozen in place for all eternity and may be amended to alter the parties’ relationship on a prospective basis — meaning to alter benefits to be earned in the future.” Sidley’s analysis, performed for the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, says the state’s authority in this realm is quite broad, provided it scrupulously protects benefits already earned.
We assume Sidley Austin knew, upon taking this for-hire assignment, that the Civic Committee wants very badly to go after active employees’ pensions.
Just saying.
So the attacks aren’t going to stop. Meanwhile, it appears that 20,000 education employees could be laid off unless the members of the General Assembly deal with fixing the revenue hole they have dug for the rest of us. When you need revenue, you cut where you can. Then, you raise taxes.
We recently attended an NEA conference on fiscal policy where former Labor Secretary Robert Reich stated an easy-to-understand truth. To paraphrase, Reich said the absolute worst thing a government can do in a recession is allow mass layoffs that cause thousands of citizens to stop spending.
Putting thousands of people on unemployment, turning them from taxpayers into consumers of government services, is a true recovery-killer, far worse than a tax increase.
You can already hear the “business interests” saying that this problem needs to be addressed by…wait for it….cutting unemployment benefits.
Madness.
What to do?
It is absolutely imperative that the members of the General Assembly hear from you. The 2010 edition of Back Home Lobby Days runs through April 12.
Tell your legislators to fix the real problem by passing substantial revenue legislation, such as HB 174, to get the state back on track economically.
And plan to be in Springfield on April 21 for SOS Rally Day. It needs to be the biggest in memory.
The guys in the fancy suits are dead serious. We need to be as well.