For union officials, self-preservation and the desire to avoid accountability to workers trumps their desire to maintain defined benefit pensions; they were willing to dump those pensions to continue mandatory dues.
Labor unions have a virtual lock on Illinois politics. Unionized government delivers services ever-less efficiently in rough proportion to its ever-increasing size.
On February 28, 2013, Illinois’ largest government union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents nearly 40,000 state employees, completed months of negotiations with state government over a new contract, yet taxpayers were locked out of the bargaining room during all of them. Since that time, taxpayers are still waiting to...
Yesterday a bill that would allow the public to see union contracts and comment on them before they are signed stalled in committee, becoming yet another victim of pressure from union officials who want to keep the public in the dark about the deals they make. The bill actually had both supporters and opponents from...
The more you know about the recent contract between the state and Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the less there is to like. While the final contract itself remains out of public view, a description put together by AFSCME for its members reveals troubling details. It appears that...
For years, retired state government workers have contributed little or nothing toward the cost of their health insurance premiums. This sweetheart deal costs Illinois taxpayers roughly $1 billion a year, with costs continuing to climb year after year. The state’s unfunded liability for retiree health insurance is more than $54 billion. Lawmakers decided to do...
Imagine a football game where the referees threw flags and called out penalties, but never actually marked off the yardage. That’s exactly how the “Affirmative Attendance Policy” within the previous American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees works: a state worker can blow off work at least 10 times with nothing worse than a...
The convoluted process of figuring out a unionized state government employee’s wages is a prime example of why the collective bargaining process needs more sunshine. While we wait for details on the contract that the state agreed to with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, it’s worth examining how to figure out...
Gov. Pat Quinn managed to avoid a government worker strike, but that doesn’t spell success. There is still much that remains unknown about the terms of the tentative agreement that Illinois just reached with Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, but the main features that are emerging paint a...
Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees announced a few minutes ago that they have reached a tentative agreement with the state of Illinois. As of right now the terms are unknown. While they will leak out to the public slowly, there is no guarantee that the general public will get...
After Chicago Public Schools officials gave notice that the district would be closing 54 schools and a total of 61 buildings, Chicago Teachers Union leaders were quick to decry the move, citing concern for students and fear of ruining neighborhoods.
Karen Lewis basically accused the CPS board and Mayor Rahm Emanuel of racism.
Chicago Public Schools on Thursday announced the largest school shakeup in the nation: closing 54 schools and 61 buildings, jostling 30,000 kids and leaving the future of more than 1,000 teachers unclear
After all, there is a basic democratic principle in play: An informed citizenry can hold its government in check. But how can we hold Quinn accountable if the information we receive is only what he chooses to share?