Greedy Illinois Employees sue to stop pension reform law

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• By Doug Finke
  GateHouse Media Illinois 
  Posted May. 12, 2014 @ 9:22 pm 
  
  Springfield

  A coalition of public employee unions is trying to stop Illinois’ pension-reform law from taking effect June 1.

  The We Are One Illinois Coalition filed a motion in Sangamon County Circuit Court to keep the status quo until the pension-reform law works its way through the court system.

  “The state insists that the act take effect on June 1, 2014 before a final decision on the act’s constitutionality can be rendered,” the motion says. “The coalition thus turns to the court for temporary and preliminary injunctive relief that will protect both pension system members and the state itself from harm that will befall them if the act is permitted to take effect, only to have it subsequently declared unconstitutional.”

  In a statement, Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan said delaying the law is the right thing to do.

http://goo.gl/QbORAa

GET IN LINE! MUNICIPALITIES AROUND ILLINOIS ARE IN NEED OF PENSION REFORM

BRENDAN BOND  

APR 22, 2014 146 0

Chicago’s need for pension reform has been well-documented. The largest city in Illinois is heading toward trouble and Mayor Rahm Emanuel is stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to find a solution to pay off the pension deficit. Springfield finally passed his pension reform bill and now it sits on Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk, but that only covers part of the problem. The governor has said he will take his time before deciding to sign or veto the bill.

He may not want to take too much time because behind Chicago, there are hundreds of other municipalities in Illinois knocking at the door, asking for pension reform help from Springfield.

The municipalities, ranging from the suburbs to downstate, are primarily suffering from the rising payouts to firefighters and police officers, as evidenced in the graphic below from the Chicago Sun-Times.

http://politics.rebootillinois.com/2014/04/22/editors-picks/brendanbond/get-line-municipalities-around-illinois-need-pension-reform/7040/?utm_source=dailytip_20140422&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=

Major union group sues to overturn Illinois pension law

January 28, 2014|By Ray Long and Rick Pearson | Clout Street

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ largest government employee unions sued Tuesday to overturn Illinois’ new pension law, ripping the long sought, landmark money-saving changes as outright “theft” from workers that won’t pass a legal smell test.

The timing of the lawsuit served as a political rebuke, dropped on the eve of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State address — a noon Wednesday speech in which the governor is expected to highlight approval of the pension measure as a reason voters should re-elect him.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-28/news/chi-major-union-group-sues-to-overturn-illinois-pension-law-20140128_1_pension-law-pension-systems-one-illinois-coalition