Campus Faculty Association Media Release:
Our Response to Governor Quinn’s Pension Proposal
April 22, 2012
For Immediate Release
The Campus Faculty Association (CFA) views with grave concern any attempt by Governor Quinn or the state legislature to downgrade pensions of state employees. The governor’s proposal to raise the retirement age to 67 and increase employees’ contribution is a unilateral pay cut, and a way of forcing university faculty, school teachers and other state workers to shoulder the burden of the mistakes of the government. State employees have paid their full contributions over the years. The $80 plus billion in deficit is the result of the state refusing to honor its obligations. We cannot accept a solution that shifts onto employees what is the employer’s contractually obligated part of compensation.
In the case of the University of Illinois, a further erosion of pension benefits will have serious implications on our ability to recruit and retain top faculty and staff. Ultimately this means undermining the educational and research missions of one of our country’s great public institutions of higher education. We urge the governor and the state legislature to work with representatives of state employees to develop a plan that does not penalize those who have carried out their obligations over the past three decades and preserves the quality of education and services in our state.
To discuss these vital issues in more detail, CFA will be holding a free public forum on the health of the State University Retirement System this Tuesday, April 24 at 4 p.m at the University YMCA, 1001 S.Wright St., Champaign. The keynote speakers will be Ralph Martire and Amanda Kass of the independent Center for Tax and Budget Accountability in Chicago. The Center has done extensive research on pension funding and suggests a revised state tax structure as one possible solution to the pensions crisis.
contact:
James Barrett, Vice President (jimbarrett50@gmail.com) 217-352-2714
Susan Davis, Communications Chair (susangdavis@gmail.com) 217-367-4182
Our website: www.cfaillinois.org
Campus Faculty Association 
There is a word for what happens when you are not paid what you were promised for work that was satisfactorily completed, and that word is “theft”. Our pensions are due bills.