The Pension We Save May be
Ours
Dear
RTAC Members:
Please examine your January 2021 CTPF Pay Advice
statement. In particular the line in the ‘Income’
column labeled AAI and the amount indicated in the
‘Messages:’ section indicating your Automatic Annual
Increase for 2021. The Automatic Annual Increase (AAI) in the
‘Messages:’ section represents the 3% increase over last
year's payment. CTPF pensioners have had this benefit for
decades to help them meet increasing costs of living. This
benefit is also the LARGEST TARGET of
'Pension Reform' legislation.
In 2013 RTAC established a Legal Defense Fund (LDF) to
engage a legal team which would defend against any
legislation that might be enacted which could reduce or
eliminate our benefits. It has been estimated that to
initiate a credible legal challenge to combat any harmful
legislation would require a minimum of $250,000. As
of December 30, 2020, RTAC’s LDF account has about 65% of
what would be needed to meet our down payment goal. We are
requesting that you contribute to RTAC’s LDF (the donation form is
available here). Although we will gladly accept any
amount, the suggested donation is the one month’s increase
(as listed in the ‘Messages:’ section on your CTPF January
2021 payment notice). Your contribution of $100 or more
will include you in the LDF President's Circle. Lesser
gifts will be acknowledged as well.
There have already been attempts to lower or eliminate the
AAI for other public agency retirees. Thus far, all
attempts have been crushed due to legal challenges.
You may recall the 2012 infamous Proposition #49 which was
designed to eliminate our and other Illinois public agency
retiree’s annual cost-of-living increases. However, we
worked together and defeated that attempt.
At this point we do not know what the Illinois General
Assembly will attempt in the way of ‘Pension Reform’
during the upcoming session. RTAC’s Advocates have
warned us of potentially harmful constitutional amendments
being talked about in the inner circles of
Springfield. The Chicago Tribune and
Mayor Lightfoot are both campaigning for a change in the
State of Illinois’ Constitution to eliminate the 'Pension
Protection' clause.
If you know any retired teachers who are as yet not RTAC
members, please encourage them to join RTAC to strengthen
our organizational sphere of influence. (A
membership application is available at RTAC.ORG/membappl.pdf.)
Also, please encourage them to contribute to the Legal
Defense Fund. RTAC's efforts to preserve and protect our
pensions are strengthened when all CTPF pensioners support
our efforts on everyone’s behalf.
REMEMBER, THE PENSION
WE SAVE COULD BE OURS!
John A. Butterfield, President
RTAC
111 N Wabash Ave. - Suite 2010
Chicago IL 60602
312-750-1522
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