THE TRUTH ABOUT CHICAGO PENSIONS

ANCHORS OF OUR COMMUNITIES City employees and retirees live in, serve, and anchor neighborhoods throughout Chicago. They make enormous contributions to our citys economy, vibrancy, and safety. They constitute Chicagos working and retired middle-class families. ESSENTIAL PUBLIC SERVICES Teachers, firefighters, nurses, and police and other city workers are the cornerstones of the City of Chicago. Residents rely on them in every community to educate our children, care for our most ill, and protect our lives and property day in, day out. NO SOCIAL SECURITY Unlike private-sector workers, City of Chicago employees and retirees do not receive Social Security. Pensions are their life-savings -- their only sure foundation for retirement security. Wall Street billionaires and big banks crashed the economy and pension funds in causing the Great Recession, and now politicians want to cut the pensions earned and paid by our citys workforce. POLITICIANS AND WALL STREETS GREAT RECESSION CAUSED PENSION DEBT For decades, politicians skipped and shorted their share of Chicagos pension payments, manufacturing todays pension debt. All that time, the citys public employees faithfully paid their fair share 8.5%, 9%, or more, of every paycheck. Its wrong to punish public servants for the actions of irresponsible politicians and the big Wall Street bankers and CEOs who fueled the Great Recession. REVENUE MUST BE PART OF THE SOLUTION The fiscal problems Chicago faces cannot be solved solely by slashing modest pensions. It will take a serious commitment of new revenue. PENSIONS ARE MODEST The average Chicago retiree pension is just over $40,000 a modest amount in one of the nations more expensive cities. Some receive less. For instance, the average pension in the municipal employees fund is around $32,000. Benefits for Chicagos police officers and firefighters are less generous compared to other big cities.

The modest life-savings of public employees and retirees stand in stark contrast to those of some of the corporate CEOs at the Commercial Club of the City of Chicago who have pushed to slash public servants pensions. The groups former chairman, Miles D. White, will draw on two pensions worth a combined $20 million when he retires, yet wants to deny the dignity of a secure retirement to others. 401(K) PLANS ARE A BAD DEAL FOR EVERYONE BUT WALL STREET Defined-benefit plans are more efficient than 401(k)s (defined-contribution) plans at providing retirement security. Plus, city employees and retirees do not receive Social Security, so any move to a 401(k) would put their entire retirement at the whim of the market. Only Wall Street wins from the higher fees that 401(k)s command. PROTECTED BY THE CONSTITUTION Just like state pensions, the Illinois Constitution protects City of Chicago pensions. It states membership in a retirement system is an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired. Illegally slashing workers life-savings would force the city into an expensive and lengthy court battle serving only to kick the can down the road. WE STAND READY TO WORK TOGETHER The voices of working and retired men and women should be at the table when decisions are being made about their retirement life-savings. We stand ready to work constructively toward a solution that is fair, constitutional, and fixes the real problem a lack of revenue and chronically underfunded pension payments.