A new bill proposed in Illinois, House Bill 5485, would allow arbitrators to impose “minimum staffing requirements” on local fire departments. While this might seem like a minor, technical matter, it has the potential to impose major costs on taxpayers, as elected officials from communities such as Rockford and Oak Lawn are warning in a...
Illinois state law requires that students be taught the history of organized labor by the end of eighth grade. And there is a bill in the General Assembly that would expand on that, so schoolchildren would have to learn more about unions. Unions are powerful institutions, so it’s reasonable to expect that children be taught...
Three years ago today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker overhauled the state’s labor law by signing Act 10. Act 10 changed the balance of power in Wisconsin, shifting it from government union officials back to taxpayers. Government unions were limited to bargaining over salaries. Complicated work rules and lavish benefits – often on terms that were...
Waukegan’s teachers have authorized a strike and plan to walk out April 16. The Waukegan teachers union wants a 2.25 percent pay raise, retroactively effective into last year, plus step-and-lane increases, which average 4 to 5 percent in additional increases annually. The union’s demands would cost an additional $4.8 million to taxpayers. The school board...
The Illinois General Assembly is poised to consider a bill that looks harmless at first glance, but should be raising eyebrows across the state. House Bill 5935 is supposed to make technical changes to the state’s Medicaid programs, but in the process it affects people who are involved in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case....
Remember in 2011 when Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he was going to get “deadbeat” city workers to pay up on unpaid parking tickets, fees and fines? Back then, he threated lengthy suspensions or termination. Emanuel scolded workers, stating “the free ride is over for everybody.” It turns out public unions are making this a lot...
Faculty members are going on strike for the first time in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s history after ongoing negotiations with administrators failed. Although union leadership repeatedly makes the argument that they are fighting for the students, the truth is the students are the ones being hurt by this strike. Some 16,000 undergraduates are...
Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, has had no shortage of controversy in the past few years – which makes the latest appointment such a mystery. DCFS has been under scrutiny in recent months for under-reporting record-high child death cases that involved DCFS’s prior involvement. A senate panel was called regarding the...
Wednesday marked the second day of hearings before the National Labor Relations Board, which will determine whether Northwestern University football players seeking to unionize are employees of the school. When the story of Northwestern football players trying to unionize, with the assistance of the United Steelworkers, broke in late January, it illustrated a huge disconnect...
Three years ago, in the midst of a financial crisis, the state of Wisconsin enacted a landmark labor reform package, now known as Public Act 10. Through this legislation, the Legislature made fundamental changes to its government collective-bargaining law. Wisconsin started with a public-sector labor law that paralleled Illinois’ in most respects, but PA 10...
The Statehouse was packed. Protestors crammed the building, chanting, pounding drums and marching around with signs. The historic Wisconsin state Capitol had become overrun with sleeping bags and activists. In some cases, lawmakers were harassed. Doctors diagnosed fake illnesses so protestors could be excused from work. The Senate Democratic caucus fled the state. Within days,...
In late January new legislation, Senate Bill 2682, was introduced to the Illinois Senate mandating that all eighth-graders be taught “the history of organized labor in America” and “the collective bargaining process.” The bill strengthens existing language so no student would be allowed to graduate eighth grade without being taught the importance of organized labor....
Unions are often presented as the plucky defenders of the working man or woman, whose only interest is seeing that workers get a fair shake on the job. But in reality unions are well financed and powerful. And in government, at least, union influence goes beyond the job to include how government itself operates. Government...
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report on union membership in the United States, which covers 2013. The results showed that unions failed to gain members – a fact that will likely prove disappointing for union officials, who might have hoped to regain lost membership under a very pro-union president....