Illinois’ largest state worker union has a long history of demanding higher taxes. Now AFSCME is funding a state constitutional amendment campaign that will hike property taxes statewide.
Teachers unions tout support for a constitutional amendment that threatens to raise property taxes over $2,149. Illinoisans already pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes.
Students on Joe Ocol’s chess teams already face life challenges, but the Chicago Teachers Union adds to them by repeatedly threatening their historic successes. Voters face a choice Nov. 8 to either strengthen union militancy or put students first.
The majority of the support for a constitutional amendment that would raise taxes on Illinoisans comes from union coffers, with nearly $5 million donated so far. Unions also funded the failed progressive tax push in 2020.
"I gladly signed on as a plaintiff against Amendment 1 to stop this union power grab before things get any worse.”
Former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton was sentenced to one year in federal prison for embezzlement from a no-work union job. He sponsored the Amendment 1 proposal to make government unions nearly untouchable in Illinois.
Amendment 1 would enshrine permanent power for public unions in the state constitution which could mean higher taxes, higher costs, and potentially costly litigation for business owners.
There’s been a 50-year national push to unionize inmate workers in prisons – including a 2020 article published by Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. The rights granted in Amendment 1 to all “employees” could result in Illinois prison unions.
The same unions that supported doubling the gas tax in 2019 donated $15 million to politicians who voted for Amendment 1, a proposed tax hike sold as a “workers’ rights” amendment.
“The Chicago’s Teachers Union has become too powerful and it is becoming even more powerful. I fear that if Amendment 1 passes, the union will have limitless power."
An admitted arsonist was able to become a fire chief and part-time police officer thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pardon. A proposed constitutional amendment could make it easier for violent felons to work in public safety – even without a pardon.
Chicago Teachers Union leaders made nearly $50 million selling property paid for with union member dues, only to shuffle the proceeds to a charity with less oversight. Members are voting May 20 for transparency from new leaders.
A Rockford family and their trucking business are being driven out of Illinois by high taxes and bad public policies. If voters agree Nov. 8 to enshrining public union power in the Illinois Constitution, expect more businesses and workers to leave.
CTU has walked out on students three times in three school years. The outcome of its upcoming leadership election pits the status quo against potential change – and could alter the political trajectory of the nation’s most militant teachers union.