Retirees are entitled to '13th payment'

I was an elementary school secretary and am very aggravated that the IMRF pension plan is being attacked. It is the only pension plan I know of in Illinois that is solvent, and now there are those who are jealous and want to destroy it. Nobody is getting richer by this plan. Those who get a thousand-dollar 13th check are those who had a large salary when they were working. I'll bet the people who are complaining are getting a lot more than that. The annual increase on my monthly pension check is about 83 cents.

It seems to me that because the government is in debt due to illegally using money that was not theirs to spend, they can't stand it that one pension plan had the foresight to take into account the ups and downs of the market, let alone didn't spend pension money on other things.

A 3 percent cost-of-living raise doesn't come close to the cost of living. If this were compounded it would be a lot more. That 13th check takes care of any variation in the market and does not affect the regular pension check.

We get this 13th check to make up for the pension we are entitled to.

Phyllis Olson

Elk Grove Village