Politicians corrupted deal with public workers
Annual rite of spring: Blame public servants for Springfield corruption.
In 1972, after being drafted, I completed my first MA and began teaching for $5,900. College graduate peers earned in excess of $10K.
Teachers were admonished, low wages with guaranteed pension, was the trade for capped income. 1980s Reaganomics captured teacher-paid Social Security with inflation and interest rates at double digits. Public workers' salaries, capped in contracts, created a "huge" disparity with private-sector wages. Business leaders responded that public workers chose security over 15-20% wage increases. We live with our decisions was the proclamation.
Defined benefit compensation was appropriate in 1971. Outlived appropriateness in the 1980s was not addressed by the legislature. Mismanaging collected taxpayer payments existed for 45 years, creating a crisis.
Police, paramedics and fire fighting, pothole repair, parks, libraries and schools are public servants. Everyone sat in a student desk, treated a minor accident and halted a bully fight for kids. None of those qualifies as doing the work of a public service professional.
Who demands that executives' "earned saved income" or its invested earnings should be reduced in value or capped? The Daily Herald's Jake Griffin cites 22,000 of 391,000 public pensioners earning $100,000-plus. That means 371,000 - 84% - don't.
Teaching treated me well. I treated teaching in our community very well. I earned my living. I chose service and the deal - multiple degrees, 55-plus-hour work weeks, 34 dedicated years and a guaranteed pension. Public Servants honored the commitment.
Illinois politicians have violated public trust, Illinois law and our Constitution, with decades of misappropriation. Public servants paid taxes, made 10% pension contributions and served the communities.
The pension crisis is a symptom of the disease, political malpractice. Public servants are victimized as taxpayers and professionals by politicians.
Alan P. Murdoch
Arlington Hts