Workers should put more in pensions
A reasonable proposal by out state legislators and our future governor would be to ask future public employees to work longer (past 55 years old) and contribute more toward their retirement to rein in escalating pension costs to taxpayers.
By doing this our elected officials in Springfield would be taking on the entrenched public employee unions and their biggest election campaign contributors. Right now we force school and public employees to retire at 55 years old if they have 30 years of service because they can retire with the maximum pension. If they work beyond that time, they would work for 20 cents on the dollar. Their retirement is 80 percent of their best years' pay. We are forcing people to retire when they are at the very peak of their careers, 55 years old.
This plan would ask that of new hires; the proposal would not affect current employees. In order to draw benefits, public employees would have to work until they reach 62, where the retirement age is for most private sector employees. We should also increase their contributions in the retirement fund and reduce the government's portion.
We should also end the practice of an employee pushing up a salary in the final years of service by working overtime or getting big pay increases. Since a pension is calculated based on salary, the extra pay drives up pension benefits. You could work for $10,000 a year for 25 years and make $100,000 a year the last 5 years and your pension would be 80 percent of the $100,000 or $80,000 per year. THAT IS NOT FAIR.
This proposal reflects what is happening in the private sector, including changes that have been accepted in recent years by the airlines and Big Three automakers. Retirees in private business are losing their benefits. Many companies have frozen pension benefits or eliminated the traditional defined-benefit pension plans in favor or employee contribution plans such as IRAs and 401Ks.
This past year, some businesses have also stopped making 401K contributions. A growing number of workers have shown a willingness to sacrifice by accepting cutbacks in promised pension benefits in order to keep the company afloat and save jobs. We are also now seeing villages and towns filing for bankruptcy. Soon we may also see States like California filing for protection and looking for bailout.
This proposal will still preserve generous health and pension benefits that are not enjoyed by millions of taxpayers and uninsured Illinois residents who have to pay the full cost of guaranteed public employee benefits. I feel we should ask all our legislators and public employees to sacrifice for the good of Illinois and to help reduce the budget deficit and help reduce our real estate tax bills.
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES MUST DO THEIR SHARE, TOO.
I am a public employee and have been for the past 10 years. I am the Grant Township Assessor and I am not running for re-election. I speak as a public employee with firsthand knowledge of the situation. These are tough times and need some drastic changes.
I don't want to hear that public employees work for less wages in order to get a pension. I don't know of a single public employee that is earning less than a person doing a similar job in the private sector. That's an old schoolteacher excuse.
Walt Kubalanza
Fox Lake