132K government workers making $100K-plus cost taxpayers $17B

Government workers with six-figure salaries are already common in Illinois. Amendment 1 promises to boost membership in the $100K Club.

New data shows 132,188 working and retired government employees in Illinois make over $100,000 a year, up from 94,000 in 2018. The total pay is $17 billion, according to OpenTheBooks.com.

State prison barbers made $104,000. At the Chicago Transit Authority, a signal maintenance worker made $302,075, bus drivers made $242,812 and a customer service representative made $207,202.

Some government employees are notorious for “double dipping” by collecting pensions from two different government jobs. Rosemont Mayor Bradley A. Stephens will collect pensions as a mayor and a state representative when he retires.

Proponents argue better salaries attract and retain more talented workers, but higher salaries mean higher pension costs. Illinois’ pensions costs have grown 533% since 2000 and forced 14% cuts to a range of core services, including child protection, mental health, public health and public safety.

Now government unions are pushing for greater negotiating power to drive up compensation and thus taxes. If Amendment 1 at the top of the ballot passes on Nov. 8, it will broaden government union negotiating power, restrict lawmakers from limiting those powers and make pension reform much more difficult in Illinois.

Amendment 1 only impacts government workers. That means Illinois could become the only state to grant such broad powers to government union bosses.

If voters buy the “workers’ rights” propaganda, that will leave the other 93% of Illinois’ workforce to pay the bill.