DEAR CAUSE SUPPORTERS
PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE SIGNED THIS PETITION.
PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE SIGNED THIS PETITION.
|
Dear MoveOn member,
To maximize the impact of your petition, you should notify the local news media and ask them to write about it.
Getting local news coverage is really simple. All you have to do is
email a written notice called a news advisory to
The Chicago Tribune at bdold@tribune.com. Then, call the paper at (312)
222-3232 and ask if they're interested in writing a story about your
petition.
To get you started immediately, a sample news advisory—just for your
petition—is below. For more local news media contacts, go to http://www.usnpl.com.
If you have any questions, just click reply to this email. And thanks again for your leadership.
–Stefanie, Steven, Carrie, Anna, and the rest of the team
P.S. If you'd like to get
even more media attention, you and your signers can use this nifty tool
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NEWS ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: October 26th
Contact: Rosita Chatonda, PHONE NUMBER
Contact: Rosita Chatonda, PHONE NUMBER
66 Concerned Citizens Sign "Illinois Pension Reform" petition
On October 26th, residents from Chicago will deliver a petition to The Illinois State Senate signed by 66 people.
The petition was created on MoveOn's petition site and states, "
Senator 13th District
111 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
Chicago Alliance of Urban School Educators
Dear Senator Raoul ,
My name is Rosita Chatonda and I am the Founding President of an upstart
organization called C.A.U.S.E.., Chicago Alliance of Urban School
Educators. CAUSE organizers teachers that are non-union and union
members as well as parents and community. Since you are Senator of the
13th District and Pension Reform Sub-Committee Chair, I am contacting
you with a pressing and urgent problem due to pension reform.
Please find enclosed information regarding the crisis facing many
veteran teachers. In the last year there have been over 3,000 veteran
teachers terminated. Many of these teachers pay into the pension system.
Of the over 50 schools closed and 6 turn-arounds, 90% of the schools
closed last year and 99% of the schools closed in previous years have
been in the African American communities on the South and West Sides. In
the last 4 years at least 6,000 African American teachers have lost
employment. In addition, since these firings were spontaneous many
teachers were left with the only option of survival, pulling their
pensions down. Most of these teachers were near retirement will never
be able to accumulate substantial years of service again. Hardest hit by
this crisis are single parent educators.
The option for paying back into the pension fund and buying back years
of services is that teachers will work in reciprocal systems in the
State of Illinois for two years to buy their pensions back. Many
teachers have reported trying to get jobs but cannot be rehired by CPS
or any other reciprocal system. Many have the money to pay back but
cannot find work for two years to fill the requirement under the pension
contract.
We at CAUSE have been asked to bring this matter to the attention of the
Illinois General Assembly and the Chicago Teachers Fund. We would like
the two year restriction for buy-back of service to be lifted. We are
asking that if teachers have the monies and are able to pay back, that
they would be allowed to do so without working in a reciprocal system
for two years. We would like teachers to have that option of buying back
their pension since jobs in these reciprocal systems are virtually
non-existent for thousands of veteran teachers.
As I have stated above, the African American Community has lost many
teachers, since the late nineties, when Jackie Vaughn was CTU President,
we have lost over 12,000 teaching slots. Our community has suffered a
tremendous economic loss and well as the cost of human dignity. Please
consider amending the pension reform laws to include a buy back for
teachers needing to recover their pensions.
Please call Senator Kwame Raoul
Springfield Office:
Senator 13th District
111 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-5338
District Office:
1509 E. 53rd Street
2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 363-1996
(773) 681-7166 FAX
Raoul staff@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Rosita Chatonda
Founding President of C.A.U.S.E.
rcchatonda@yahoo.com
"
In the last year there have been over 3,000 veteran teachers terminated.
Many of these teachers pay into the pension system. Of the over 50
schools closed and 6 turn-arounds, 90% of the schools closed last year
and 99% of the schools closed in previous years have been in the African
American communities on the South and West Sides. In the last 4 years
at least 6,000 African American teachers have lost employment. In
addition, since these firings were spontaneous many teachers were left
with the only option of survival, pulling their pensions down. Most of
these teachers were near retirement will never be able to accumulate
substantial years of service again. Hardest hit by this crisis are
single parent educators.
The option for paying back into the pension fund and buying back years
of services is that teachers will work in reciprocal systems in the
State of Illinois for two years to buy their pensions back. Many
teachers have reported trying to get jobs but cannot be rehired by CPS
or any other reciprocal system. Many have the money to pay back but
cannot find work for two years to fill the requirement under the pension
contract.
We are asking that if teachers have the monies and are able to pay back,
that they would be allowed to do so without working in a reciprocal
system for two years. We would like teachers to have that option of
buying back their pension since jobs in these reciprocal systems are
virtually non-existent for thousands of veteran teachers.
To read the petition go to: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/iliionis-pension-reform
MoveOn's online organizing platform was created to allow progressive individuals and organizations
to run their own online campaigns.
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This email was sent to Rosita Chatonda on October 23, 2013. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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