Untitled Page

To be eligible for membership with SUAA you have to either be:

An annuitant, spouse of annuitant, or survivor of annuitant, or

Be actively employed with a SURS employer and vested in SURS

You are vested in 5 years.

SUAA no longer has an age requirement to be eligible for membership.

For 38 years SUAA has been lobbying in Springfield to improve your retirement benefits.

Imagine your pension WITHOUT these improvements that SUAA has achieved since 1971:

an annual cost-of-living increase--it was first raised to 1 1/2 % -- now it is 3%
the one-time increase of $2 per year of service and 8 cents per year of service times the number of years elapsed since annuity began
survivor annuity at 50% of retiree’s base annuity--it originally was 30%
survivor permitted to remarry at age 55 without loss of annuity
a one-time survivor’s annuity increase of 1% per year of service times years elapsed since survivor’s benefit began and $1 per year elapsed since benefit began
survivors included in 3% annual annuity increase
3% annual increase compounded for both annuitants and survivors
minimum annuity $25 per year up to 30 years of service (minimum $750) –it was $15 per year (minimum $450)
We now have a full-time executive-director and a full-time lobbyist.

But benefits still need to be improved.

80% parity for retirees and survivors who retired before 1990

SUAA is concerned about health insurance too:

The above was accomplished without me as a member; why should I join?

In 2008 SUAA had almost 11,000 members; but SURS, our retirement system, had over 29,000 annuitants and survivors drawing pensions.

If you were a legislator, which would impress you more; pressure from an organization of 11,000 members or one with 29,000? Wouldn’t it be nice for a larger percentage of SURS annuitants to join SUAA and have a voice.

Even if you live outside of Illinois, SUAA is still working to improve your annuity.