Important Message from Dan Fabrizio on Pension Reform and SB 512
Brothers and Sisters:
We are days away from a possible vote on pension legislation that would drastically reduce the pension benefits of most public employees and significantly increase the employee contributions of others. Although we have been successful in keeping our members out of the bill so far, we are confident there will be similar legislation introduced for firefighters if they are successful with this effort. Again, Article 6(Chicago Fire Fighters Pension), Article 4 (Downstate Firefighter Pension) and Article 7 (IMRF) are not included in the most recent draft of this legislation, despite attempts by some to include us.
Senate Bill 512 is scheduled for a hearing in the House Personnel and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, May 18 at 2 p.m.
The bill hasn't been amended yet, so the specific language is not available at this time. If it passes out of committee it could be voted on by the full House as early as Thursday.
If this legislation passes it will likely offer state employees three choices for participation in the plans going forward (all benefits earned to date would be unaffected):
• Option 1: Stay in the current tier 1 plan but pay significantly higher contribution, or
• Option 2: Go into a tier 2 plan for new hires that puts retirement age at 67, lowers benefits and decimates annual Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA), or
• Option 3: Go into a 401k defined contribution plan that freezes current pension credits and relies on the volatile stock market.
It is imperative that you personally contact the legislators in your district as soon as possible. We need every member to participate and to encourage their friends and family to contact lawmakers as well. Please call 888-412-6570 to be immediately connected to your lawmakers by phone or go online to "click to call." Please be courteous when calling, we want to get our point across by using the below information when calling.
When you call your legislator please tell them:
"Please vote NO on SB 512 or any legislation that reduces benefits or increases contributions for public employees in Illinois"
We encourage you to also:
Email your legislators using a pre-written message. Enter your information under the "Sign Up Today" option at the We Are One Illinois website and it will bring you right to your specific legislators.
Sign up for text alerts at www.weareoneillinois.com
Follow the AFFI Website, Facebook and Twitter pages to receive the latest information
In addition, "We Are One Illinois" TV ads are still running and our labor coalition partners will be similarly responding.
While we believe this is a winnable fight, we need as many of our members, our friends, our family members, our neighbors and our FB friends to contact their lawmakers to urge them to vote "NO" on SB 512, the pension benefit reduction legislation.
Our member's life savings are on the line and we do not have time to waste.
Thank you for your continued support and rapid response.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERY PUBLIC EMPLOYEE YOU KNOW!
Thanks to Charlie Tortorello for this important information...