Posts tagged ‘Mike Noland’
Voice Newspaper coverage of Elgin Pension Funding Rally 5.4.12
by John Laesch, posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 8:55 am
Teachers and Citizens Demand a Seat at the Pension Funding Table
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Sunday, May 6th, 2012 at 10:06 pmA group of about forty people from Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice gathered in the noon day sun outside Illinois Senator Mike Noland‘s office in Elgin on Friday, May 4th. The people wanted Senator Noland to hear their concerns about the lack of revenue and funding for Illinois teachers’ pensions. Senator Noland is one of four legislators appointed by Quinn to a task force to solve this issue. While earlier State Senator Mike Noland (D-Elgin) had informed the group he would not be present to respond to their rally, he unexpectedly showed up
John Laesch, from NIJWJ, announced the rally was about the group’s concern regarding the State’s lack of funding for teachers’ pensions, but Noland didn’t seem to understand until the end of the rally that the citizens standing before him had not been sent by the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and were instead concerned citizens and workers—about half of whom happened to be teachers.
“This is a workers’ issue. And we are concerned that our legislators have not funded our teachers’ pensions. We have a revenue problem here. This is a concern to all taxpayers and to all people who work for a living,” said Laesch.
TRS Townhall in Naperville
by John Laesch, posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at 12:24 pmTeachers and retired teachers filled a school cafeteria in Naperville, IL to hear a presentation from Dick Ingram, the Executive Director of the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) on Thursday, April 26th.
The presentation itself was very “matter of fact” and seemed to be a part of a PR effort to let teachers know that Governor Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly were about to deliver a hard-hitting punch. Most of the information presented was not new, but the use of multiple events and participation by the news media re-enforced the message, “the sky is falling and teachers have to make concessions.” Before delivering the bad news, Ingram did talk about how great it was that teachers had lived up to their responsibility by paying into the retirement system all of these years. He also acknowledged that teachers are not eligible for Social Security (a point that is often missed by the public and seems to be ignored by lawmakers).
Illinois General Assembly passes civil unions
by John Laesch, posted on Saturday, December 4th, 2010 at 12:09 pmWhile the Illinois General Assembly has yet to create jobs, pass a balanced budget, or find a way to fund the $80B pension liability, they did a very courageous thing during veto session by passing a civil unions bill. This strikes me as one of the biggest “change” votes taken by the ILGA and perhaps the biggest act of courage in my memory. It was a positive step forward for residents of Illinois as we seek to join other states who view equality as a centerpiece for social and economic justice.
In the 21st century, I find it hard to believe that there are still people in Springfield and Washington who honestly feel that some in our society should be treated like second class citizens in the eyes of the government. But, some still voted “nay.” You can see the entire Senate vote here. You can see the entire House vote here.
If you agree that this is a good step for Illinois, please call or write members in the Fox Valley to let express appreciation or disappointment. Altough he has delayed signing the bill until 2011, it is expected that Governor Quinn (312-814-2121 / Online Contact Form) will sign the bill. It probably does not hurt to send the Governor a note to thank him for his support of equality. See list of Fox Valley Representatives below.
