AFSCME to state workers: Prepare for a strike
AFSCME to state workers: Prepare for a strike
The states largest employee union is urging its members to be prepared for the possibility of a strike.
West Chicago teacher strike: lack of collective bargaining transparency leaves taxpayers in the dark
West Chicago teacher strike: lack of collective bargaining transparency leaves taxpayers in the dark
Faced with the prospect of lean financial times, the West Chicago Elementary District 33 school board decided it would be prudent to reduce automatic annual pay increases and lengthen the amount of time it takes for teachers to reach the top of pay scale
High-paid union elite often use teachers to promote their agendas
High-paid union elite often use teachers to promote their agendas
According to union financial reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, there are more than 120 employees of the Illinois Education Association, or IEA, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, or IFT, earning more than $100,000.
Speaker Madigan reminds the unions who’s in charge
Speaker Madigan reminds the unions who’s in charge
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan turned down an invitation to a pension summit sponsored by public employee unions. Madigan sent a firm letter to Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. Carrigan also heads the We Are One Illinois coalition of public employee unions. In my view, the positions of organized labor were taken into...
Back room collective bargaining deals leave taxpayers in the dark
Back room collective bargaining deals leave taxpayers in the dark
The time for passing a Truth-in-Collective Bargaining Act is long overdue.
Grayslake teacher contract details remain a mystery
Grayslake teacher contract details remain a mystery
Grayslake sounds like a great place for a mystery. It could be the name of a mansion overlooking a foggy moor upon which a wealthy young heiress was found dead of arsenic poisoning among half a dozen acquaintances, all with serious grudges.
Contagion 2.0: Did you really think it was over?
Contagion 2.0: Did you really think it was over?
The holidays are over and kids have been back in school for weeks. But students in Grayslake District 46 are back at home now that teachers are on strike.
Passage of management bill will prevent some government workers from unionizing
Passage of management bill will prevent some government workers from unionizing
With the last procedural hurdles cleared, Senate Bill 1556, also known as the "management" bill, will be presented to Gov. Pat Quinn and is expected to receive his signature.
CTU’s answer for failing schools: Blame the ‘fat cats’
CTU’s answer for failing schools: Blame the ‘fat cats’
It is a fairly standard piece of Alinskyite strategy: make the argument about personalities rather than principles or results. Find an enemy and make the whole fight about him or her or it. As progressive icon and “Rules for Radicals” author Saul Alinsky himself put it, “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize...
AFSCME, collective bargaining, Quinn and the fine line
AFSCME, collective bargaining, Quinn and the fine line
It is a basic axiom of government collective bargaining: If you have to bargain with a union about anything, you are liable to have to bargain with them about everything, and that includes things that you aren’t supposed to bargain about at all. This why collective bargaining with government employees is such a problem: Even...
Bringing it all together: what Right to Work means for Michigan and its workers
Bringing it all together: what Right to Work means for Michigan and its workers
On Tuesday Michigan’s Legislature took the final steps in passing Right-to-Work legislation, and Gov. Rick Snyder signed the bill into law. Outside the Statehouse, union protesters became more agitated, tearing down a tent where Right-to-Work supporters had gathered (a handful of people were almost trapped inside the canvas) and assaulting a Fox News correspondent. In...
PAC database reveals biggest union beneficiaries
PAC database reveals biggest union beneficiaries
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE UNION PAC DATABASE The database shows which Illinois politicians have received donations between 2002 to 2012 from PACs associated with: American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Illinois Education Association (IEA); Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT); and Service...
Right to Work: How did Michigan get to this point?
Right to Work: How did Michigan get to this point?
Right to Work has become a reality. The two-bill package passed both houses of the state legislature, and was signed into law by Gov. Snyder. Unions are continued to cry foul and staged wild protests outside the Michigan Statehouse – at one point they tore down a tent belonging to Americans for Prosperity. In yesterday’s post we discussed what...
The semi-legal Carpentersville strike
The semi-legal Carpentersville strike
At the end of today’s blog post you should be thinking a bit more like a lawyer, though you might prefer the skull full of mush you had beforehand. Teachers in Carpentersville-based District 300 went on strike for one day this week. Among the issues that remained at the time of the strike was class sizes. The...