Labor

National Labor Relations Board to decide fate of Northwestern University football players seeking to unionize

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...

By Paul Kersey

Wisconsin’s turnaround: How labor reform under Act 10 gave power back to taxpayers and created a multimillion-dollar surplus

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...

By Paul Kersey

Wisconsin’s labor reforms reach three-year mark: Should Illinois have followed Walker’s lead?

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,...

By Paul Kersey

New bill requires Illinois’ eighth-graders to be taught the importance of unions

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....

By Justin Hegy

Top 10 facts about labor in Illinois

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...

By illinoispolicy

Union membership decreases nationwide

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....

By Paul Kersey

A mom’s fight for justice: Harris v. Quinn

Pam is a mom in northern Illinois whose son, Joshua, needs constant care because of a rare genetic syndrome that causes severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pam receives a modest subsidy from a Medicaid-waiver program that allows her to stay home and take care of Joshua. She isn’t a state employee; she just gets a...

By Paul Kersey

Continuing the trend: Union PACs give big money to Democratic Quinn

In the race for Illinois governor, campaign contribution restrictions have legally been lifted. Labor union’s political action committees, or PACs, have long been primary financial backers of Democrats both in Illinois and nationally. Unsurprisingly, these PACs are now throwing extraordinary amounts of cash behind Gov. Pat Quinn’s re-election bid. Quinn’s political war chest is closing...

By Justin Hegy

Enacting Right to Work would help halt business exodus from Illinois

There is a virtual caravan of businesses leaving Illinois. Office Depot, which announced that it would be setting up its headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., rather than Naperville, Ill., is only the latest. A string of smaller companies, mainly manufacturers such as Modern Drop Forge or Food Warning Equipment Company have been relocating – sometimes...

By Paul Kersey

Public support plummets when government unions strike

For decades, labor unions have used public demonstrations such as rallies, pickets or strikes to generate public support for their cause. But in 2013, unions learned the hard way that this strategy can backfire on them. A recent poll by the Field Research Corp. showed public support of government unions in California plummeted over the...

By Justin Hegy

Government union power cracking as support wanes

While teachers unions hold tremendous power, cracks are starting to appear in their foundations. As Stephanie Simon reports in Politico, both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are dealing with new challenges: declining membership, the growing popularity of Right-to-Work laws and a loss of support among the public. As Simon describes...

By Paul Kersey

Unions block Medicaid scrub that could’ve saved state $350M a year

It wouldn’t be entirely fair to say that government unions exist solely to make government less effective and more expensive, but sometimes that’s just exactly what they do. One blatant example came a few weeks ago, when American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 pushed the state into abandoning its contract with...

By Paul Kersey

Will County strike lingers on

There really is no good time to call a strike, but late in November might just be the worst. That sums up the situation faced by around 1,000 Will County government employees. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1028 called a strike against the county back on Nov. 18. If AFSCME...

By Paul Kersey

Thankful for heroic moms

What are you thankful for? We’re thankful for people like Pam Harris who stand up to the government when it threatens their rights. Pam is a mom in northern Illinois whose son, Joshua, needs constant care because of a rare genetic syndrome that causes severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pam receives a modest subsidy from a Medicaid-waiver...