3% COLA for ALL Tier 1 Pensions

• Through a bold move that required no “give and take”, we leveraged Governor Pritzker’s Downstate Pension Consolidation Bill to reach an agreement with the Governor and Mayor Lightfoot to secure the complete elimination of the so-called “birthday” rule under Tier 1 pensions.

  This agreement, at long last, ensured that all Tier 1 retirees would receive a 3% COLA benefit at retirement.

Creation of a Foreign Fire Insurance Board within the Chicago Fire Department

• Despite the naysayers who claimed, “you’ll NEVER get the City to agree to it’, we were successful in passing this legislation against the City’s strong opposition and their demand that this issue be bargained in contract negotiations. In fact, through our strong lobbying efforts, we were even able to convince Republican Governor Bruce Rauner to sign our Bill.

  Governor Rauner was no friend of Unions and many in organized labor wondered how we were able to accomplish this. It clearly was NOT easy, but it speaks to the compelling arguments and strategies we employed. However, we stood firm in support of our members and, as a result, we now enjoy the ability to direct the expenditure of over $6-million dollars annually, for the use and benefit of the members of our department.

During my tenure as Local 2 Political Action Director, we were able to successfully pass numerous pieces of pro-Fire/EMS legislation as well as identifying and eliminating harmful legislation as it was being introduced in Springfield.