Chicago Fires 1400 Teachers To Fund Extravagant Pensions

[rangerrebew]

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Chicago Fires 1400 Teachers To Fund Extravagant Pensions

Posted By Blake Neff On 6:09 PM 07/01/2015 In | No Comments

 About 1,400 Chicago public school teachers and staff are expected to lose their jobs in order to finance a pension debt of $634 million, the city announced Wednesday.

The layoffs are part of an aggressive $200 million budget cut to help finance the pension payment, which is required of Chicago Public Schools by Illinois law. The rest of the pension payment is coming from heavy borrowing, as the district already has a massive $1.1 billion budget deficit.

In announcing the layoffs, Mayor Rahm Emanuel blamed the rest of the state for not picking up the slack, saying the rest of Illinois doesn’t pay its fair share for pensions.

“You negotiate with your teachers in Aurora… Then we get to pay for it,” Emanuel said at a press conference. He said the state should change its funding formula so “You… come to the table and start paying your share for what you negotiated.”

 
But lawmakers in Springfield failed to act, leaving “unconscionable” cuts as the only option, he said.

Chicago’s public schools have seen repeated mass layoffs in recent years thanks to a budget situation that is in perpetual crisis. In 2014, about 1,100 employees were laid off, and over 3,000 lost their jobs in 2013. (RELATED: Chicago Public Schools Whack 1000 Employees)

Still, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released a statement saying it was totally “blindsided” by the mass firing, and accusing city officials of trying to “retaliate” against them for a recent breakdown in contract negotiations.

“These layoffs prove that the Board never intended to make the pension payment in good faith and that they are using this to justify more attacks on our classrooms,” said CTU president Karen Lewis. “Putting 1,400 people out of work is no way to balance a budget and resource our schools. This is going to hurt our students and the most vulnerable children in our district.”
 
 

Angry educators, though, might consider pointing a finger at the pension benefits received by their retired colleagues. Thousands of retired Illinois teachers receive a six-figure pension, and the typical teacher received more in pension payments than they personally paid in within 20 months of retirement. Most teachers retire at age 59 or younger, and the lifetime pension cost per teacher in the state is estimated to exceed $2 million. Not helping things for the state is an annual 3 percent cost of living adjustment that is fully guaranteed and totally untethered from actual inflation rates.

Chicago teachers have defended their high pensions by pointing out that by virtue of their participation they are ineligible for Social Security, though this non-participation means they also pay no payroll taxes.

In 2013, Illinois lawmakers passed a pension reform bill that tried to scale back benefits to contain costs, but CTU and other labor groups sued. In May, a state judge ruled that it was unconstitutional for Illinois to make any cuts whatsoever to negotiated pension payments.
 

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[ArneFufkin]

Naturally, the big city Democrats always find a way to blame out-staters for their irresponsibility.

Karen Lewis of CTU has done nothing but rabble rouse and agitate.  Like most Public Union mobsters she cares next to nothing for those she's tasked to serve.

The unfortunate fact is that the layoffs will likely discriminate against the young and motivated educators in favor of the Union-tenured dead weight.

[truth_seeker]

Can't we pick up on the comparison of Greece, to the US government employee pensions bomb which is exploding from city, to county, district, state etc.?

In California Vallejo, San Bernardino, Stockton have already been brought to light. It will continue, all across the country.

All across the land, retirees are awarded guaranteed benefits, at early ages. But the employers (cities, districts, etc.) failed to put enough money into the pension funds, to later cover the payouts.

Can you say Greece?

[Free Vulcan]

Gonna hurt the kids the most of course, but OTOH the more they fire, the less union dues they're getting, and the less to pass around the liberal canddiates.