Thousands rally in Springfield to say “Fix Tier 2!”

Thousands of public service workers—members of AFSCME and our allied unions in the We Are One Illinois coalition—gathered in Springfield on Nov. 13 to demand lawmakers fix the broken and unfair Tier 2 pension system.

The rally was the culmination of months of direct action in which public sector union members called and emailed their elected officials and attended town halls to share their stories directly with lawmakers. These actions have forced lawmakers to confront the inadequacy of Tier 2 pension benefits.

AFSCME members rallied alongside teachers, firefighters and nurses, among others, during the legislature’s fall veto session. In the Capitol rotunda, public service workers shook the building with their chants of “Fix Tier 2” and “We Are One.”

“We are here today to tell our legislators it is not too late to demonstrate respect and appreciation for the vital work that public employees do every single day,” Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said from the rally stage. “It is not too late to stop the exodus of workers from public sector jobs. It is not too late to restore dignity and security in retirement. It’s not too late to fix Tier 2! The time is now!”

AFSCME members from local unions in every part of the state traveled to Springfield on chartered buses or carpooled with their coworkers to attend.

The creation of Tier 2 stems from decades of mismanagement of the pension system by politicians, who routinely shorted the state’s contributions to the pension funds and created a multi-billion-dollar shortfall. Rather than addressing the problem head-on by funding the pension systems, in 2010 lawmakers rammed through legislation in the dead of the night that created what is now known as Tier 2.

Public employees hired after Jan. 1, 2011, are on Tier 2. They do the same work as Tier 1 employees but have to work longer and receive a lower benefit with a lesser annual COLA when they retire.

The inadequacy of Tier 2 pensions is a major contributor to the recruitment, hiring and retention crisis in the public sector. Improving Tier 2 will motivate workers to return to public service jobs, strengthening services that Illinoisans rely on.

“Equal pay and equal rights, that’s fair to everyone,” said Rachel Overstreet, a Cook County probation officer and the vice president of AFSCME Local 3696. “We give our all to our communities. It’s only fair for us to receive that same fairness back.”

Lawmakers must pass the Fair Retirement and Recruitment Act

Union members at the Capitol urged lawmakers to support HB 5909 (introduced by Rep. Stephanie Kifowit) and SB 3988 (introduced by Sen. Robert Martwick), legislation dubbed the Fair Retirement and Recruitment Act.

The bill would make several important improvements to Tier 2 pensions, including:

• Aligning Tier 2 retirement age requirements with Tier 1.
• Implementing an across-the-board 3% cost-of-living adjustment for all Tier 2 members.     
• Bringing the final average salary calculation in line with Tier 1.
• Adjusting the pension salary cap to match the Social Security Wage Base, addressing the so-called “Safe Harbor” problem.

“What we’re asking for is a retirement that is fair and reasonable,” said Patrick Sheridan, president of AFSCME Local 963 at Northern Illinois University. “Working in a physically demanding and emotionally taxing job until you’re 67 just isn’t reasonable.”

AFSCME’s legislative team, along with lobbyists for the other unions in the We Are One Illinois coalition, are pushing lawmakers to advance the legislation in the upcoming “lame duck” legislative session in January.