Unit Five Education Association | An Association affiliated with the IEA-NEA, Advocating for Public Education Employees and Teachers in the McLean County Unit 5 School District located in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois

Pension Update: ACT NOW

UFEA — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:55:08 +0000

Please check the IEA website regularly for updates related to pensions and possible attempts to make changes that will impact future, current and retired teachers.

The video below is the latest effort from the We Are One Illinois labor coalition, of which IEA is a part:

UFEA Bargaining Update: May 11-12, 2012

UFEA — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:52:35 +0000

The UFEA Bargaining Committee met with the Board and Administration for several hours Friday night and Saturday morning. View the video below for an update from UFEA President Vickie Mahrt. You will need your UFEA password to access the video. If you’d prefer to read the text of the update, view it on the Vimeo website using this link … the text is included below the video:

Bargaining This Weekend

UFEA — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:57:20 +0000

UFEA Members:

Your Collective Bargaining committee will be meeting with the Board and Administration twice this weekend. The first session is scheduled for tonight (Friday) from 4 until 7. Tomorrow’s session is scheduled from 8:30-11:30am. Please look for an update Saturday afternoon! And thank you for your continued support.

UFEA Bargaining Update: May 8, 2012

UFEA — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:48:45 +0000

View the video below for a bargaining update from UFEA President Vickie Mahrt. You will need your UFEA password to access the video. If you’d prefer to read the text of the video, view it on the Vimeo website using this link … the text is included below the video:

UFEA Bargaining Update: April 30, 2012

UFEA — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:13:45 +0000

We Are On Labor Coalition on Pension Proposal

UFEA — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:23:46 +0000

The We Are One Illinois labor coalition, which includes IEA, IFT, AFSCME, the Illinois AFL-CIP and other organizations representing public sector workers, issued the following statement in reaction to Gov. Quinn’s pension plan announcement:

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.”

Protected: General Membership Meeting & Voting on Evaluation Tentative Agreement

UFEA — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:34:03 +0000

Protected: 2012 Bargaining Survey Results

UFEA — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:09:29 +0000

2012 UFEA Scholarships Available

UFEA — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:48:20 +0000

The Unit Five Education Association annually awards three scholarships to individuals pursuing a career in education. Applications for each $1000 scholarship are due by 3:00 pm on March 23, 2012. Applications should be completed and returned to:

Pat Fitzgerald
Normal Community High School
3900 E. Raab Road
Normal, IL 61761

One Rosenbaum Scholarship is awarded to a senior at Normal Community High school, while another is awarded to a student at Normal West. A third scholarship is awarded to the child of a UFEA member (may be a high school senior or a current college student) pursuing a career in education.

The application form (the same form is used for each of the scholarships) may be downloaded using the links below:

Call NOW: Protect Your Pension!

UFEA — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:09:11 +0000

By midnight Thursday, we should know whether we have succeeded in beating back another illegal and unfair attack on the pensions of Illinois public employees.

This is your fight and the participation of all 132,000 IEA members is needed if we are to stop Senate Bill 512, the illegal and unfair pension legislation.

It is unconstitutional to reduce benefits for active employees.
For most education employees, their pension is their only form of retirement security because teachers can’t collect full Social Security, even if they have earned it from other work.
Teachers have loyally paid their share portion into the state’s pension systems; The pension problem is a result of politicians using the systems as a credit card to pay for other state services.

All IEA members are urged to contact their legislators this week:

Call 888/412-6570 and follow the prompts to be connected to your legislator and use the above talking points, or
Go to the IEA website, click on the pension tab at the top of the page and you will see a link to email your legislators.