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UIC UNITED: A Chapter of SUAAMinutes of the Fall MeetingWednesday, October 18, 2006 |
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President Irving Miller called the meeting to order at 10:10am.
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UIC UNITED: A Chapter of SUAAMinutes of the Fall MeetingWednesday, October 18, 2006 |
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President Irving Miller called the meeting to order at 10:10am.
1. Minutes of the Spring 2006 meeting were approved.
2. President's Report ---- President Miller reported that, based on active membership, UIC UNITED is the second largest Chapter in SUAA.
Four delegates from the UIC Chapter attended the State Board of Directors Meeting held on October 17th in Urbana. New strategies to change the focus of the organization from one of providing information to one of action were discussed. There is also a push to increase organizational involvement at the grassroots level. To that end, a list of legislative goals was presented to the Chapters. The State organization is gearing up to meet this challenge by addressing its human resource needs which include hiring additional staff.
Dan Slack, Executive Director of SURS, spoke
at the meeting on the history of pension legislation in Illinois and the rights
of those participating in the State retirement plans. Future issues were identified
that will impact employees and annuitants; these included concerns about how
the State plans to deal with the mandated ramp-up in funding (caused by ballooning
pension payments), retiree health care benefits, the Social Security Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP), and the possibility of a constitutional convention.
3. SUAACTION Report ---- Dick Johnson reported the following:
Based on a decision by SUAA to become more aggressive politically, a Political Involvement Committee (PIC) was established. One year ago, the PIC became SUAACTION. The goal of SUAACTION is to position the organization to have a more direct and active presence in Springfield and to be a player in pension funding and protecting employee and annuitant benefits. In this regard, the current State pension liability is in excess of $40 billion.
On September 13, 2006, UIC UNITED, in conjunction with the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73, co-sponsored a forum on pension
reform on the UIC campus. The purpose of the forum was to discuss SUAACTION
strategies to promote legislative goals in northeastern Illinois. This area
contains 37 (63%) of Illinois' 59 senatorial districts and 74 (63%) of its 118
representative districts. The 18 SUAA Chapters in this region were invited to
participate. Five outstanding panelists were assembled to discuss the issues;
these were: Christine Boardman, President, SEIU
Local 73, and member of the SURS
Board of Trustees; John Filan, Director of the Illinois
Office of Management and Budget; Fred
Giertz, Professor of Economics and at the Institute of Government and Public
Affairs, UIUC; Ralph Martire, Executive Director, Center
for Tax & Fiscal Accountability; and Jeff
Schoenberg, Senator, 9th legislative district. The forum was a success;
however, the event failed to attract participation from significant numbers
of other SUAA Chapters. Only 6 of the 18 chapters invited attended. Dick acknowledged
that there were problems with communication and getting the word out.
4. Treasurer's Report ---- Frank Tachau reported that, as of October 17, 2006, the balance in savings was $16, 612; invested savings (Certificate of Deposit), $25,312; general checking, $2,395; and $2,000 in the UIC organizations account (used for UIC purchases)
5. Membership Report ---- Geraldine Piorkowski submitted a written membership
report: Membership has increased from 1,261 to 1,677, representing a 27% jump
over the previous year. UIC UNITED recently received the SUAA Award for the
largest Chapter increase in membership. A membership solicitation mailing will
be sent in the next few months to those who have retired within the past 5 years.
6. Program Report ---- Sue Sindelar announced that Dick Simpson will present
a brown-bag lunch talk on Thursday, November 9, 2006, analyzing the forthcoming
election results. Sue is finalizing plans for the annual Holiday Luncheon as
well as for a speaker for the Spring Annual Meeting.
7. Newsletter ---- Larry Poston reported that work on the newsletter is ongoing.
He was reasonably certain that a final copy will be in the hands of Publication
Services in early December, with a mailing planned for later in the month. Members
were encouraged to submit items for the December newsletter as soon as possible.
8. Adjournment ---- The meeting was adjourned at 11:04am.
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha Borders, Chapter Secretary
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