by Ashley Muchow Great cartoon from Chris Britt of the SJ-R today, recounting the recent deal struck between the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees labor union and Governor Quinn. Check out our blogs, response, and more blogs on the matter. As Quinn rolls over to the demands of AFSCME, Illinois has reason to question the Governor’s plan...
by Kristina Rasmussen Here’s Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s take on the AFSCME deal: “This is wrong on so many counts that it is hard to know where to begin. At a minimum, there is the appearance that the Governor traded a favorable contract for the union endorsement. It was clearly wrong to take the state’s lead...
by Collin Hitt The construction worker strike in the Chicago area has cost Naperville schools at least $500,000, reports the Daily Herald. Construction crews may be back to work at Naperville Central High School, but the weeklong delay due to a labor strike is likely to cost the district at least $500,000… Work came to...
by Kristina Rasmussen If you were amazed that the State of Illinois is handing out pay bumps to tends of thousands of state workers in the midst of a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, get ready for this. Between June 2011 and January 2012, unionized state workers are scheduled to receive a total of 7.25 percent in cost of...
New leadership vows to battle testing, charter schools, and the district's budget balancing plan.
The Challenge The most important policy adopted by any school or school district is its contract with its teachers. Yet new and aspiring school board members in Illinois have few accessible guides to a collective bargaining process that will determine how teachers are hired, placed, compensated, rewarded and disciplined. A New Tool for Better Policy...
Government performance reviews should remain available to the public under Freedom of Information laws.
In 2008 and 2009 the state of Illinois sent $1,320,000.00 to the Illinois Chapter of the AFL-CIO, a federation of unions.