Public-sector workers rally in Springfield to talk about pensions

Posted on November 14, 2024
Hundreds of public employees in the state who anticipate a Tier Two pension say it’s not enough. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – With Illinois lawmakers back for the fall veto session, how about an old-fashioned labor rally.

To attempt to stabilize state finances, the legislature created a second tier for state pension systems. Employees signing on in 2011 or later get less of a benefit. Now, workers say it’s not fair.

“We want to make sure that the people working next to us are securing the same type of benefit,” said Jeff Maher, a Galesburg fire captain who is in Tier One. “I think that they were trying to address a very serious problem, and what we were left with was kind of a short-sighted Band-Aid that didn’t address the real problem and certainly wasn’t favorable or fair to the newer members in the fire service.”

“The profession doesn’t feel sustainable to me, and the thought of teaching until (age) 67, as my Tier Two pension requires, is almost out of the question,” said Brittany Archibald-Swank, a fourth-grade teacher in Urbana.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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