The State Universities Annuitants Association (SUAA) is a
501c(4) organization created to advocate for the current employees, the
retirees, their spouses and survivors who will or are receiving benefits from
the State Universities Retirement System (SURS). SUAA membership is through its
chapters on
Illinois
public university and community college campuses.
SUAA-UIUC is the
University
of
Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign Chapter of SUAA. Through our programs, newsletters and this
web site we bring our members information and programs relevant to their
current and future pension annuities and benefits, and retirement in general.
A Brief History:In
1941 the Illinois University Retirement System act provided “for the creation,
maintenance, and administration of a Retirement System for the benefit of the
staff members and employees of the
University
of
Illinois and certain
other state educational and scientific agencies.” The State Universities
Retirement System (SURS) name was adopted in 1963.In 1970, this Chapter was established due to
the efforts by active and retired employees in 1969 which lead to legislation
mandating an annual annuity increase per year and who helped secure in the 1970
revision of the Illinois Constitution guaranteed pension and retirement rights
for all State employees (Art. XIII, Sect. 5). SUAA was created in 1971 to
“advocate a strong and secure public employee pension and health benefit
system” for SURS participants and annuitants. Currently, the State of
Illinois faces unprecedented budget issues,
resulting in recent changes to both retirement annuities for future employees
and benefits to all SURS participants.
Our predecessors fought for our current retirement benefits
and our informed participation in the political process is necessary to assure future
benefits.
