Labor Archives

Illinois General Assembly passes bill to help Teamsters who picketed funerals

Since July, Illinois Teamsters have been on strike against funeral home operator Service Corporation International, or SCI, because SCI didn’t offer a contract that the union found satisfactory. At first, the Teamsters fought their battle by aggressively picketing funeral homes SCI owns in Illinois. Among other things, strikers at Illinois funeral homes reportedly blocked mourners...

Will County AFSCME workers file strike notice against county

The Herald-News is reporting that American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1028 have filed a strike notice against Will County. About 1,000 county employees could go on strike as early as Wednesday, Nov. 13. The union wants a larger cost-of-living pay raise than the county is offering, and the union is also...

By Paul Kersey

Unionization more prevalent in government than private sector

One of the biggest changes in the union movement has happened mostly under the radar, but it has big consequences for union officials, workers and the public at large. Unions used to be powerful in the private sector. But now, most union workers nationwide are government employees. It has been this way since 2009. Since...

By Paul Kersey

Unions take advantage of Illinois’ prevailing wage law

When a state construction project goes up for bid, a union outfit often ends up with the contract. This is one of the seamier aspects of Illinois government. State laws and common practices for bidding are designed to cover up for union firms’ disadvantages and steer projects their way. The unions are always ready to...

By Paul Kersey

Government unions and wasteful spending

A look at self-reported government union spending reveals budgets fraught with waste. Unions exist to represent workers, so that’s where the bulk of their money should go. Yet among the state offices of the four largest government worker unions, the portion of spending that goes to representation ranges wildly, from nearly $0.60 out of $1...

By Paul Kersey

Number of Illinois union bosses earning six-figure salaries continues to grow

In Big Labor mythology, union leaders are gritty, idealistic working class people standing up to the arrogant and wealthy. In reality, running a union is big business, and a union gig can mean making a pretty good living. Illinois teachers unions can be particularly generous with compensation. In “The Labor Book,” we looked at government...

By Paul Kersey

Democrats receive overwhelming majority of Illinois government union donations

In recent months, unions that had been sharply critical about many aspects of ObamaCare have been extremely quiet since Republicans in Congress have made a concerted – and very controversial – attempt to slow down implementation of the law. The federal government shutdown could have presented a creative union lobbyist with a great opening to...

By Paul Kersey

Union bosses silence ObamaCare critiques to pander to Democrat allies

Just a couple of weeks ago the AFL-CIO passed a sharp criticism of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, in a written document at its national convention in Los Angeles. This document was the last of a string of union complaints about the national health insurance law and the way that the...

By Paul Kersey

U.S. Supreme Court takes on home-care unionization laws

Illinois is one of several states that have chosen to allow the “unionization” of people who provide care for children or disabled persons and receive assistance from state programs. But one woman has stood up against this forced unionization. Pamela Harris is a mother from Western Springs, Ill., who has been forced to fend off...

By Paul Kersey

Obama derides workers who go on strike — ‘You’d get fired, right?’

Does President Barack Obama think House Republicans should form a union? If not, it’s hard to make much sense out of his latest speech at a business in Rockville, Md., in which he equated House Republicans’ decision not to support a budget that would fund ObamaCare to disgruntled workers going on strike: If you are...

By Paul Kersey

Freedom for workers – teachers can get out of paying union dues

Illinois public school teachers are required to financially support unions whether they want to or not. They don’t have much of a choice – it’s either pay up, or give up teaching. Union bosses claim to have teachers’ best interests in mind, but despite this they sometimes make outrageous demands that cost teachers their jobs....

By Paul Kersey

Labor law fails to protect whistleblowers

The ethics of big labor tend to be completely backward, protecting the corrupt while punishing the diligent. One reason why is a federal labor law that fails to protect union officials when they try to protect their members from crime, as James Sherk writes in National Review’s “Corner” blog. In a recent article that appeared...

By Paul Kersey

Teachers can reclaim a portion of union dues

School has been back in session for about a month now, and teachers across Illinois are busy making lesson plans, grading papers and more. But they should also be thinking about whether or not they want to contribute to their union’s political campaigns. Public school teachers are almost always forced to pay union dues or...

By Paul Kersey

Union boss calls for ObamaCare repeal

Before ObamaCare became law, many labor unions – including the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA – supported it. But over the last several months, labor unions have become more and more alarmed over the actual effects of the law. Now Terry Sullivan, General President of LiUNA, has gone further than any other union leader...

By Paul Kersey