Retired delegates elected to IEA RA.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

– Fred Klonsky, SORE President

The Illinois Education Association was founded in 1853.

It became an affiliate of the National Education Association in 1857.

In 1966 the NEA and the African American American Teachers Association merged. We also merged in Illinois.

The NEA essentially removed administrators from leadership and became a union in 1970.

Over the 150 years of our Association existence we have taken steps forward and we have taken some steps backward.

Certainly the ending of teacher union segregation and requiring minority representation in our leadership was of huge historical importance and a major step forward.

A much smaller but important step forward for IEA Retired took place today as members of our slate were elected as delegates to the Representative Assembly of the IEA,  scheduled for April in Rosemont.

To my knowledge, it has been many years since a slate of delegates has run – with some of us getting elected – on specific issues including some points critical of the current leadership.

After a month-long period of mail-in voting three of the five members of our slate of candidates were elected to be delegates to the meeting.

Our platform:

We are running as candidates to represent the IEA Retired at the 2015 IEA Representative Assembly. We share the following beliefs. (This is not a criticism of others who are running as delegates. We strongly believe in a diversity of views).

1. We believe the IEA leadership needs to improve communication with its membership.
2. We believe the IEA leadership should be more transparent in its decision-making process.
3. We believe retirees should have a stronger voice (more representation) in the decision-making process of the Association.
4. We believe our Association should take a more significant and active role in defending our schools, our members, and our students from corporate school reform schemes such as charter schools, vouchers, Common Core, Race to the Top and teacher evaluations based on student test scores.
5. We believe in defending our contractual and constitutional pension benefits and rights without apologies, concessions or compromise.

– Jack Tucker, Mary Richie, Glen Brown, John Dillon and Fred Klonsky

Jack Tucker received the second highest vote total of all those running. Glen Brown and I were also elected. John and Mary did well as first-time candidates, although they were not elected.

Jack, Glen, and myself along with Bob Kaplan and Linda Stolt  – members of our chapter of the Skokie Organization of Retired Educators (IEA Retired) – were elected.

Also elected were past IEA presidents Bob Haisman and Ken Swanson who have, of course, name recognition among many retired members.

Ed Rosenthal, David Bishop, Char Haley, Barb Gilhaus, Mae Smith, Dottie Beeler, Wesley Heyduck, Melody Sexton, Pearl Mack, Jane Nolan, Chuck Weishaupt, Paula Mueller and Marge Houghland were all elected to represent IEA retirees.

Retiree of the Year award.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

This is a reminder that the nomination forms for the IEA-Retiree of the Year Award are due on January 2nd.  Please let your members know that now is the time to be thinking about nominating the retiree who they feel deserves this highly respected award for what they have contributed to IEA-Retired.  As we begin our celebration of the 25th anniversary of our IEA-Retired program, “Thank You” to all of you who have helped grow this program.

Here is a link to the online application/nomination form: http://media.ieanea.net/media/2013/09/Hauge-Award-Flier-2015.pdf

CTU on SB1 court ruling.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) commends Judge John Belz on his decision regarding the unconstitutionality of Public Act 98-0599, also known as SB 1, that illegally and unfairly slashed the pension of thousands of active and retired public employees across the state. Judge Belz’s clear and unambiguous reading of the Illinois Constitution—combined with the Illinois Supreme Court’s 6-1 decision in July on retiree health benefits—suggests that the state’s highest court will concur with this ruling.

Today’s ruling also suggests that Public Act 98-0641, also known as SB 1922 and allegedly an “agreed” bill that slashed retirement benefits for thousands of retired and active school clerks, teachers assistants, laborers and other members of the Laborers’ and Municipal pension funds in Chicago, is also unconstitutional. The bill, passed over the objections of thousands of pension fund members, contains nearly equivalent  provisions that Judge Belz found unconstitutional, “impairs and diminishes” benefits through reductions in the automatic annual increase; eliminates increases in given years; and adds an additional one-year delay in receiving an adjustment.

“Judge Belz’s ruling makes clear that the solution to the current problem is what our union has been arguing for the last several years—that the pension ‘crisis’ in Illinois is the outcome of decades of insufficient revenue generation and years of employer underpayments to public pension funds,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “The only constitutional solution going forward is to find ways of raising revenue in both Illinois and the city of Chicago.”

“A fair tax on incomes, a financial transaction tax and a surcharge on millionaires all would generate the necessary dollars from those who can most afford to pay, and who have benefited the most from decades of low state income taxes,” Sharkey said. “The fact that investment firms who benefited handsomely from state and city pension business have recently been found to engage in pay-to-play politics with both Rahm Emanuel and the incoming governor—both of whom have advocated for significant pension cuts—only reinforces the wisdom of our constitutional framers’ desire to protect retirees’ benefits and provide appropriate funding for pension funds.”

The CTU continues to call on Bruce Rauner, Illinois governor-elect, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the members of the Illinois General Assembly to make fair revenue generation priority number one in the upcoming months.

Walmart protests Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday. A new tradition.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

We have a new, meaningful Thanksgiving Tradtition! We spend it protesting low wages at Walmart. You are invited to join us.

Please let us know if you are coming by writing to info@nijwj.org. Tell us which event or events you will attend. This is just to give us a rough guess at how many folks can commit to being there. If you decide, at the last minute to join us, do not hestiate to do so. Thanks.

Join us on the picket line protesting low wages, unpredictable and unreasonable work schedules, and retaliation against those workers who assert their rights to take action for better conditions.

Bring the whole family, but dress for the weather!

There are four such opportunities:

1) Thursday, November 27th, Thanksgiving Evening, at 7:00 PM, we will gather on the public sidewalk in front of the Walmart at 1100 S. Randall Road in Elgin. That’s just South of Bowes Road. We will stay a little more than an hour. We will hold lighted signs so people in passing cars can see our message in the dark. We suggest that you park in the lot for Nick’s Pizza which is at the corner of Randall and Bowes. We will meet at the North end of the public sidewalk there, in front of Sam’s club, and walk to the South end of that sidewalk.

2) Friday, November 28th, at 7:30 AM, there will be a protest at the Walmart Store at 1205 S. IL Route 31, Crystal Lake, IL 60014. That’s at Rakow Road.

3) Friday, November 28th, 10:00 AM, we will stand on the public sidewalk at the Walmart at 1050 N. Rohlwing Road, Addison, just South of Lake Street (Hwy 20.) We will hold signs and make ourselves visible to customers entering the store. This Walmart shares a parking lot with surrounding stores. We suggest that you avoid parking directly in front of Walmart. Park in front of one of the other stores, and then we will gather in front of the Burger King and walk to the sidewalk in front of Walmart.

4) Friday, November 28th, 3:00 PM, again, we will stand on the public sidewalk holding signs, at the Walmart at 2552 W. 75th Street, Naperville, IL 60540. There is a multi-purpose lot for a strip mall, fitness center, and Costco just to the West of Walmart. We suggest parking there. We will meet at the West end of Walmart’s sidewalk.

Protests number 1,3, & 4 are organized by

Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice.

Protest number 2 is organized by an allied, spirited, public-minded group.

SB1 ruled unconstitutional. A win. Now on to the Supreme Court.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

From: We Are One Illinois
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 2:00 PM
Subject: NEWS: Court rules Illinois pension cuts unconstitutional

NEWS

Nov. 21, 2014

Court rules Illinois pension cuts unconstitutional

A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge today granted motions brought by the We Are One Illinois union coalition and the other plaintiffs, ruling that the pension clause of the Illinois Constitution is absolute in its protection of public pensions and that legislation reducing the pensions of active and retired teachers, state employees and university employees is unconstitutional.

The following statement may be attributed to We Are One Illinois:

“We are gratified by the court’s ruling today, which makes clear that the Illinois Constitution means what it says. The court held today, as our unions have long argued, that the state cannot simply choose to violate the Constitution and diminish or impair retirement benefits if politicians find these commitments inconvenient to keep.

“This is a victory for every Illinois resident who believes in the integrity of the Constitution. It is a victory for a basic principle of fairness, that working people and retirees who earned modest pensions and always paid their share should not be punished for politicians’ failures. And it is a victory for the members of our unions, who work hard every day in every Illinois community to teach kids, protect public safety, care for the most vulnerable and much more. Today they are more secure in the knowledge that their life savings can’t be taken away from them.

“Going forward, our union coalition repeats our longstanding commitment to work with anyone of good faith to develop a fair and constitutional solution to fund the state’s retirement systems.”

The coalition will post the judge’s ruling as soon as practicable at http://www.WeAreOneIllinois.org/sangamon.

Tomorrow’s court decision. From IEA General Counsel Mitch Roth.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

From the General Counsel of the IEA regarding the Pension Lawsuit.  Your members may have questions.  Please call me if you have any regarding this matter.

Shelley

Begin forwarded message:

From: “Roth, Mitch” 

Date: November 20, 2014 at 4:16:55 PM CST

Subject: Pension Lawsuit Decision to Issue Tomorrow at 2

           Today, a hearing was held in Sangamon County Circuit Court in the Pension lawsuit on our motion that the State constitution’s pension clause does not permit the State to impair or diminish pension benefits under any circumstances.  The judge will issue his written decision tomorrow at 2.  If the judge rules in our favor, he will be deciding that SB 1 is unconstitutional.  Even if he rules against our motion, it won’t mean that he is ruling that SB 1 is constitutional.  It will only mean that he wants to hear evidence on the State’s claim that in severe financial circumstances, it can diminish pension rights.  Once he hears that evidence, he could very well still decide that the law is unconstitutional because the State hasn’t made the case that the situation is so dire that it can abrogate pension benefits.  We will keep you posted.

Mitch

Ruling Friday on SB1.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — A Sangamon County judge says he’ll issue a ruling Friday over the constitutionality of Illinois’ pension overhaul.

Attorneys wrapped up oral arguments Thursday over whether the Illinois Constitution bars lawmakers from cutting their pension benefits.

Lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn approved a law in December 2013 overhauling the operation of Illinois’ pension systems. Years of underfunding have put them roughly $100 billion short of what they need to cover benefits promised.

The law reduces benefits for retirees, but also reduces employee contributions.

The lawsuit alleges the Constitution prohibits reducing any benefits or compensation once they’re promised. But the state says pension benefits are a con

Missouri voters beat back anti-public school billioniaires.

Posted on by Fred Klonsky

NEA Today
News and Features from the National Education Association

BY BRENDA ÁLVAREZ
Missouri voters came out strong during this year’s mid-term election—and with good reason: to stop a well-financed campaign to change the Missouri Constitution by taking away local control from schools, implement a one-size-fits-all approach to student learning, and increase school district costs.

But Amendment 3 was overwhelmingly defeated by a 3-1 margin, with more than 76 percent of ballots statewide saying “no.”

A group called Teach Great (now defunct), which in large part was financed by billionaire Rex Sinquefield, Missouri’s version of the Koch Brothers, was a main sponsor of the amendment. The organization raised more than $1.8 million to collect the required signatures to get the amendment on the November ballot.

Strong opposition was organized by a group called Protect Our Local Schools , which included parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, school boards, and the Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) and its local affiliates. The coalition, undeterred by billionaire capital, organized statewide to inform the education community of the amendment’s devastating affects on schools.

Amendment 3 aimed to strip local control from teachers and school districts and turn it over to politicians in Jefferson City, the state capital, who would have held the decision-making power to retain, dismiss, promote and demote educators. These decisions would have been determined from an evaluation system based on at least 51 percent of a student’s standardized test score.

Additionally, Amendment 3 would have required the state to implement even more unfunded, state-mandated standardized tests, threatening quality instruction that helps to produce good thinkers. The pressure many educators often feel to teach to the test would have been only exacerbated by the amendment. And the cost of producing these additional tests was upwards of $1 billion, which local school districts and taxpayers would have been forced to pay.

Educators were extremely vocal on this issue. “A politician should never control what happens in a local school district. Local school districts should decide what’s best for them,” said Andy Slaughter, a computer teacher from Meramec Valley.

Missouri NEA officials were out in full force—knocking on doors, making phone calls, sending letters to the editor, and hitting the airwaves—months before the Nov. 4 election. Being a part of a strong coalition of grassroots activists, who were steadfast and clear about the negative affects of Amendment 3, was key to the successful campaign against Amendment 3.

The state Association organized in every local and worked with as many school boards as possible to inform families of the proposed changes to the constitution. “The education community is being very well educated on this..,” said Susan McClintic, president of Columbia Missouri NEA in an interview with KOMU 8, an NBC affiliate.

Leading up to the election, more than 230 school boards passed resolutions opposing the amendment, and the coalition’s Facebook page received nearly 30,000 “Likes,” with 900,000 exposures compared to the 400 Teach Great received.

But the only success that mattered was delivered on Election Day. Of the 1.4 million people who turned out to vote on Nov. 4, nearly 1.1 million voted to reject Amendment 3.

“Students, parents and local schools triumphed…with the defeat of Amendment 3,” MNEA President Charles E. Smith said after the election. “Voters across the state sent a clear message rejecting one-size-fits all approaches to education that place Jefferson City bureaucrats over local students, parents and educators when it comes to deciding what’s best for students. The rejection of Amendment 3 sends a clear message—Missourians value their local schools and want extremists to keep their hands off.”