SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A coalition of unions will be using “every ounce of energy” it can muster to persuade state lawmakers not to adopt the most recent plan to fix Illinois’ $100 billion pension crisis.

The pension proposal would close the shortfall in the state’s five pension systems by 2044 by pushing back the retirement age for workers under 45, and by replacing automatic annual 3 percent cost-of-living increases with smaller ones.

Some workers would also have the option of changing over to a defined contribution plan as part of the proposal presented to lawmakers last week, the Associated Press reports.

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Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and leaders of the Illinois General Assembly are now campaigning for the proposal on one side, while the state’s public sector unions are lobbying against it on the other.

The plan could come up for a vote today in a special legislative session, and union officials said they’re targeting 25 “persuadable” lawmakers to make their case, according to the news service.

“We’re certainly going to apply every ounce of energy that we can to prevent the passage of legal theft of lifetime savings,” Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers union, told the AP.

If the union lobbying fails and lawmakers pass the pension reforms, “then we will absolutely seek justice in the courts,” Montgomery said.

Illinois House members last year passed a pension reform package that was later voted down in the Senate. The Senate proposed much more union-friendly reforms with much less savings, but House Speaker Michael Madigan never took a vote on the Senate legislation.

This time around, Big Labor was left out of the conversation, and for good reason, state Rep. Elaine Nekritz told the AP.

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Labor leaders would “not consider anything” less than last year’s Senate legislation, she said.

“There didn’t seem to be a lot of benefit in trying to have a dialogue,” Nekritz said.

The Associated Press reports Democratic senators from moderate swing districts are likely to be critical votes in any attempt to pass the new pension reform plan this week. The unions will be targeting 8 to 10 lawmakers in the Senate and 15 to 17 in the House in their effort to kill the deal.

“The pension shortfall, considered the nation’s worst-funded, developed after lawmakers short-changed state retirement systems for years,” the AP reports. “The gap has led to millions of dollars being diverted from education and social programs, and repeated drops in the state’s credit rating.”

After years of ignoring the problem, Illinois lawmakers appear poised to finally address the shortfall in a serious way, the only question that remains is whether Big Labor will be able to thwart their efforts.