Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans calls on Gov. Pritzker to infuse pension funds with $500M

Posted on March 7, 2022
Elston Flowers, a retired teacher from Bloomington, emphasizes the importance of his pension. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – For people like Patricia Johnson of Chicago, retirement does not pay all that well.

“About $2800 a month, or $34,000 a year,” Johnson told a Springfield news conference. “I rely on my pension to get by. To subsist. For paying rent, my car loan, for food, and for medicine.” A recently diagnosed blood disorder is driving up those medical costs.

The point of the announcement, at the Illinois AFL-CIO headquarters across from the Capitol Complex, was to “encourage our General Assembly to recognize the opportunity here to make right by this promise,” said Louis Goseland, executive director of Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans. The promise he’s referring to is Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposal to infuse the pension funds with a new $500 million.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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