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| Leonard Ramirez |
The failure to amend the Illinois Constitution that
politicians quietly placed on the November 2012 ballot as an end around pension
obligations prompted Governor Pat Quinn to initiate an education program to
convince the people of Illinois of the need for reform. The underlying tone of
the Internet campaign, “Thanks in Advance,” resembles recent attempts to blame
striking Chicago Public School teachers for missed school days. “Thanks in
Advance” is another chapter in the war against pensions that suggests that
government workers are jeopardizing the futures of Illinois children. Using an emotionally
charged strategy of divide and conquer, the “reform” campaign sets private
against public employees; community agencies and grass roots staff against
public workers and union members, and the young against the aging.
Pension reform as framed by various “civic
committees” suggests the need to correct abuses stemming from the past sins of
overly indulgent public officials. These committees, primarily populated by
business representatives and the local elite, project themselves through their
media allies as disinterested parties save for their desire to secure
financially stable, good government. Yet
seeping through the typically thick filters of public relations are hidden
intentions: tax benefits for business, government incentive programs, and lucrative
contracts that depend on finance policy and the necessity to minimize other state
costs. Ironically, it is some of the beneficiaries of subsidies, bailouts, and
TIFs who point the finger at the middle class for the budget problems of the state.
Pension abuses exist. The collection of multiple
retirement packages by politicians and judges (e.g., state, county, city, etc.)
often with minimal time invested is a common practice. High-ranking school
administrators have been known to “retire,” move across state lines and
manoeuver to collect additional pensions. Rehiring the “retired” at lucrative
salaries is one way colleges reward loyalists. These are, for the most part,
the prerogatives of the privileged, not the ordinary worker. Still, the
manipulation of the system is used to vilify-- sometimes by those guilty of the
worst abuses-- all public employees whose average benefit in the case of at
least one major pension system (SURS) is approximately $30,000.
Often missing from the discussion are the many years
of irresponsible state borrowing from pension systems that it has yet to pay
back; the carrot dangled in front of employees of a decent pension and health
benefits to compensate for years of low or no salary increases while employees
with the same or less credentials in the private sector received better
remuneration. Conveniently absent from pension talk is the fact that state
workers agreed to increase their contributions in order to secure an annual
cost of living increase (COLA), which is now being bandied about as the symbol
of state largesse, its so-called Cadillac programs.
This Illinois campaign is nothing more than the
local version of the national Republican agenda that seeks to pick the pockets
of the middle class and have it pay for the past abuses of the wealthy and
well-connected, many of whom fed at the public trough over the years and now
sing in the holy choir of the self-righteous. We must launch our own campaign
using all the social media at our disposal to counteract the latest attempts at
the Foxification of reality. Inform your friends and neighbors. Use every tool
at your disposal to let them know who really mortgaged the future of their
children and on whose backs the responsibility should be placed.
Leonard
Ramirez is an ILACHE board member and freelance writer.
