Harper College Adjunct Faculty Association

Make the call NOW to stop pension cuts

hcafawebmaster — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:39:41 +0000

May 22, 2012 By IEA Communications

IEA members and the “We Are One” coalition partners have turned up the heat on politicians who want to cut hard-earned and constitutionally protected pensions for public employees.

From east to west, southern Illinois to the suburbs, IEA members last week rallied, telephoned, picketed, wrote letters, sent e-mails and confronted elected officials who had sought to pass fast track legislation and cut pensions before IEA members and other public servants could mobilize.

What we need now are thousands of individual member telephone calls to legislators! Don’t rely just on e-mail. Pick up the telephone and call legislators directly. Tell them that fast track legislation to cut public employee pensions is unfair! You expect their “NO” vote on any fast track legislation that cuts benefits or puts the pension burden on public employees.

CALL 888-412-6570 or go to the We Are One Illinois coalition call-in page.

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali

hcafawebmaster — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:53:16 +0000

This You Tube video is worth watching. The next time you’re asked what you make, you may feel that despite the poor pay, you make a difference in this world of ours.

http://youtu.be/RxsOVK4syxU

hcafawebmaster — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:31:06 +0000

Pensions Newsroom Contact Us

Pension update: April 24 –

The pension crisis and the discussions intended to resolve it resume in Springfield Thursday. Here’s what has happened, what is expected and what you can do to help ensure IEA members get the pensions they have paid for:

What is the proposal and whom does it impact?

On April 20, Gov. Quinn proposed a plan that he said would put the state’s pension systems on better fiscal footing. To date, most of the information available on the plan comes from a news release and a fact sheet issued by the governor. Therefore, the details and ramifications of this proposal are mostly unknown to the unions that make up the We Are One Illinois coalition (including IEA, IFT, AFSCME, SEIU, AFL-CIO). We can only relate what the governor says his proposal is and what its impact would be. For example, the governor has said that only active employees, not retirees, would be impacted.

It also should be noted that, at this writing, there is no bill on which legislators are being asked to vote.

The governor’s proposal applies to active employees enrolled in the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), the State Universities Retirement System (SURS), the State Employee Retirement System (SERS), the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS) and the Judges Retirement System (JRS).

The proposal would:

Require current active employees to pay an additional 3 percentage points of salary toward their pension. (TRS would go to 12.4 percent from 9.4 percent and SURS would go to 11 percent from 8 percent.)
Reduce the Cost of Living Adjustment in retirement (COLA) for Tier 1 employees (Participants before Jan. 1, 2011) to a COLA that is not compounding and is the lesser of 3 percent or 1/2 of the Consumer Price Index, the same COLA applied to Tier 2 participants (those who started after Jan. 1, 2011). It is believed that the proposal will require a delay of the COLA to either five years after retirement or age 67, whichever occurs earlier.
Increase the retirement age to 67 for current employees (which may be phased in).
The proposal requires that the state fully fund the retirement systems over 30 years and not over 33 years as required by current law.

According to the governor, active employees could choose the benefit package outlined above and receive their health insurance premium subsidy. Or, members could keep the pension benefit structure they currently have, but future salary increases would not count toward their pension and their health insurance premium subsidy would be dramatically reduced or possibly eliminated. IEA and the coalition believe this proposal is unconstitutional and unacceptable.

The IEA position is that any pension proposals must be constitutional, must be fair to the participants and must have the effect of stabilizing the pension systems.

What’s next?

On Wednesday, April 25, leaders and staff from IEA and the other We Are One coalition partners will meet to discuss the next steps in the fight to protect pensions. On April 26 and 27, the coalition will meet with representatives of the governor and legislative leaders in an effort to determine whether progress can be made toward an agreed-upon bill that will secure the future of the pension systems and help ensure the participants get the benefits they have been promised.

What you can do:

Stay alert, stay in touch – Check the IEA website regularly and update your IEA member profile and make sure that the email address you have on file is the one you check regularly. Many school districts block association emails, so please make sure IEA has your home email address.
Contact your legislators today - Send an email telling your legislator to oppose any unconstitutional pension proposals
Tell your senators to oppose HJRCA 49, the proposed constitutional amendment that would take professional development away from educators. Click here for a fact sheet.

Be ready! In the recent past, significant pension legislation has flown through the Illinois House and Senate within a few hours and landed on the governor’s desk. Be ready to act on very short notice.

WE ARE ONE ILLINOIS STATEMENT ON PENSIONS

hcafawebmaster — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:08:01 +0000

Responding to Gov. Pat Quinn’s news conference on pensions held Friday, April 20, Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael Carrigan issued this statement for the We Are One Illinois coalition of unions that represent public employees: “The unions representing public employees are committed to working with Gov. Quinn and the members of the General Assembly to find a solution to the pension funding crisis caused by the state’s failure to pay its share. “It is crucial that the pension problem not be compounded by an unconstitutional solution that is unfair to public employees who have always paid their share. The average public employee pension is just $32,000. Because most public employees do not receive Social Security, this modest pension is their life savings. “Despite the willingness of the unions to engage in substantive discussions, our organizations were not asked to be part of Governor Quinn’s pension working group. We were invited to just four meetings and only a few days ago received any data by which to judge its proposals. “We strongly disagree with the proposals made today. Considering that the subject at hand is the ability of hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans to support themselves in retirement, we believe the proposals are insensitive and irresponsible. “By appearing to endorse these unfair and unconstitutional cuts, the governor has made the process of finding common ground much more difficult. “Forcing public servants to choose between two sharply diminished pension plans is no choice at all. It is a clearly illegal attempt to solve the problem caused by past governors and the legislature solely on the backs of teachers, caregivers and other public workers. “Public employees must be treated and heard as full partners in any substantive discussions. No one has a greater stake in solving the problem than we do. A serious problem deserves a serious effort at a solution. The unions are ready.”www.WeAreOneIllinois.org

The Harper College Adjunct Faculty Executive Committee

HCAFA Congratulates Brian Knetl, New Dean of Liberal Arts

hcafawebmaster — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:56:21 +0000

HCAFA fully endorses the College’s decision to appoint Brian Knetl dean of the Liberal Arts division. Brian has had a long history of supporting adjuncts. Currently he is serving on the HCAFA-Administration Relationship Committee as well as the Negotiating Committee.

HARPER ADJUNCT ADVOCATE IN MAILBOXES

hcafawebmaster — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:12:17 +0000

Check your mailbox for the latest edition of the Harper Adjunct Advocate. Of particular interest is the article on Dual-Unit Membership. Click on the link below to see the April edition.

Harper Adjunct Advocate – April 2012

HCAFA Election Results

hcafawebmaster — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:42:19 +0000

HCAFA wants to congratulate our new Region 42 council reps, Joanne Meyerhoff amd Janice Cutler. HCAFA also wants to congraturlate Taimi Wilk on becoming the HCAFA delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly.

Election for NEA Rep Assembly & IEA Region 42 Reps

hcafawebmaster — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:27:38 +0000

To HCAFA dues-paying members only:

We need to select:
1 HCAFA Delegates to the 2012 NEA Representative Assembly
3 Representatives to the Region 42 Council
The election will be held on Friday, March 2, 2012 from 10 AM to 12 Noon at the IEA/NEA office, 553 N. North Court, Palatine, Illinois (Suite 210).
Come, vote and see your Union at work!
The HCAFA Executive Committee

Negotiations for Next Contract Are Proceeding

hcafawebmaster — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:52:20 +0000

We will make every attempt possible to keep you informed of our progress. We know that for most adjuncts, the main concerns in negotiations are salary and benefits. However, there are many other very important aspects to our contract. (We hope you’ll look at your contract and become aware of all of the possible topics there are to bargain.) HCAFA and the Harper Administration have met 4 times since the initial Intetest-Based Bargaining all-day training. (We meet for 4 hours every Friday.) Both teams have expressed a strong interest in cooperating with each other to to make the adjunct contract better than it is.

In an effort to develop trust, we began the process by working on language issues–those issues that have changed since the signing of the last contract: Some of the issues were the result of grievances filed on behalf of adjuncts; others were the joint outcome of discussions at relationship meetings between HCAFA and the college.

Adjuncts Included in Harper Faculty Retreat for the First Time

hcafawebmaster — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:28:24 +0000

HCAFA is pleased to inform you that all adjuncts are welcome to attend the all-day retreat for Harper faculty on February 24 at Poplar Creek Country Club. The retreat will focus on finding and making joy on the job and is “devoted to YOU, the person, and to your well-being.” If you can’t come for the entire day, think of coming for part of the day. We hope you’ll include lunch in your options. Click on the link below for the full invitation.

Invitation to Faculty Retreat Feb. 24, 2012