Pam Harris: A heroic mom from Illinois
Pam Harris: A heroic mom from Illinois
A mother's struggle to keep SEIU away from her finances and out of her home.
Chicago Public Schools lays off more than 2,000, including 1,000 teachers
Chicago Public Schools lays off more than 2,000, including 1,000 teachers
Chicago Public Schools plans to layoff more than 2,000 Chicago Teachers Union members on Friday. CTU released a statement saying CPS plans to lay off nearly 2,100 total employees, including “veteran teachers, teacher assistants, clerks, technology coordinators, instructional aides, lunchroom workers and security guards.” “Once again, CPS has lied to parents, employees and the public...
Right to Work gives states a competitive advantage
Right to Work gives states a competitive advantage
by Paul Kersey CNBC released its rankings of the friendliest states for business last week. Illinois dropped further down the list, but one nearby state is climbing, in large part because its elected officials passed a Right-to-Work law. CNBC’s Scott Cohn took notice, reporting that the Michigan moved from 33rd to 29th. CNBC’s rating of the state’s...
Twinkies and the bakers union: don’t call it a comeback
Twinkies and the bakers union: don’t call it a comeback
by Paul Kersey Plans to reopen Hostess Brands bakeries, including one in the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park, are going forward. The company has announced that the Twinkie will make its glorious return on July 15. But while the reorganized Hostess is making what it calls “the sweetest comeback in the history of ever,” the bakers...
FOIA reveals 200 IRS employees work for union full time
FOIA reveals 200 IRS employees work for union full time
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from Americans for Limited Government, the Internal Revenue Service revealed that 200 of its “employees” actually work full time for the National Treasury Employees Union, or NTEU. The special union arrangement, known as “official time,” means that rather than working on investigating and collecting taxes, public workers whose...
How we got here: Quinn and Blagojevich’s grand scheme to unionize Illinois homes
How we got here: Quinn and Blagojevich’s grand scheme to unionize Illinois homes
Earlier this week I wrote about Pam Harris, the Western Springs, Ill., mother who is at risk of having a union siphon off state aid money meant to help her care for her disabled son. So how is it that Harris, and so many like her, found themselves treated as employees by the state? Why don’t...
U.S. Supreme Court should scrutinize Quinn’s plan to unionize Illinois moms and dads
U.S. Supreme Court should scrutinize Quinn’s plan to unionize Illinois moms and dads
Illinois resident Pam Harris has a son, Josh, who is 24 years old and suffers from Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a rare genetic malady that leaves him moderately handicapped mentally and at the same time affects his joints so that he is prone to dislocations. Josh can move around the house and do simple chores. He’s also...
After pricing teachers out of jobs, CTU sets up laid-off employees to receive government assistance
After pricing teachers out of jobs, CTU sets up laid-off employees to receive government assistance
by Paul Kersey Barring a dramatic shift, more than 800 Chicago Public Schools employees, many of them dues-paying Chicago Teachers Union members, will be without jobs when schools open in the fall. But CTU, having collected more than $1,000 in dues per year from these people before pricing them out of their jobs, has made plans to help...
Beck rights and abstention: The ways around a toxic union
Beck rights and abstention: The ways around a toxic union
A recent Google Consumer Surveys poll shows that a third of union household members would quit their union if it weren’t for the fact that doing so would cost them their jobs. Because Illinois lacks a Right-to-Work law, thousands of workers are forced to pay dues or fees to a union that they don’t believe...
Bill Daley acknowledges depth of union politics
Bill Daley acknowledges depth of union politics
by Paul Kersey Possible gubernatorial candidate Bill Daley said something interesting at his “pension plan” news conference Monday morning. It just wasn’t really what he wanted to emphasize. Though he summoned the media for the occasion, the former White House Chief of Staff had little to say about why pensions in Illinois are in the...
Chicago Public Schools: the layoffs begin
Chicago Public Schools: the layoffs begin
This afternoon Chicago Public Schools officials announced layoffs of teachers and other staff. Overall 855 school district employees will be let go: 663 employees from 49 schools that are slated for closure and another 192 staff from schools that are slated for “turnaround.” CPS currently employs 41,500 staff, including more than 23,000 teachers. While the immediate cause...
Illinois lawmakers scale back progress in ‘management bill’
Illinois lawmakers scale back progress in ‘management bill’
by Paul Kersey Last year the Illinois General Assembly decided that up to 3,580 supervisors in state government would not be subject to unionization. Passing this legislation, dubbed the “management bill,” meant that Illinois would restore a well-established principle of labor law – that supervisors need to be strictly accountable to policymakers and the people...
Lawmakers fail to act on government collective bargaining legislation
Lawmakers fail to act on government collective bargaining legislation
by Paul Kersey In the wake of the end of spring legislative session, it has become clear that the General Assembly left itself a lot of unfinished business for next year. Aside from failing to act on pensions and passing another budget with numbers that don’t add up, Illinois lawmakers also failed to make the...
Congress Hotel strike shows how union representation can leave workers worse off
Congress Hotel strike shows how union representation can leave workers worse off
by Paul Kersey The 10-year strike by housekeepers at the Congress Hotel was not actually the longest in U.S. history. Teamsters at Diamond Walnuts in California staged a walkout that lasted 14 years before agreeing to a contract. But the length of the strike and the sad way the Congress Hotel strike ended demolishes a fond...