The ruling upholding Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccination mandate for city workers, except police, sets a precedent ahead of arbitration between the city and more than 20 Chicago labor unions.
Amendment 1 would allow union leaders to negotiate anything and everything into union contracts – including provisions that could contradict state laws meant to protect Illinois schoolchildren.
Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension debt shrank slightly after investments more than tripled predictions, thanks partly to COVID-19 stimulus. Experts caution 1 year cannot undo decades of overpromising and underfunding.
The plaintiffs representing Black and Latino voters argued Illinois Democrats’ new legislative maps are gerrymandered to break up voting blocs, diluting minority voting power during the next decade.
Special interest groups shouldn’t be singled out for protection in the Illinois Constitution, but state lawmakers are asking voters to change that. If passed, Amendment 1 would protect government unions at the expense of everyone else.
With additional protection in the Illinois Constitution, state employees and even public officials could be shielded from discipline and corruption reforms thwarted.
Amendment 1 would constitutionally prohibit Illinois lawmakers from pulling back on union power. It would give government union bosses more power than voters and than those elected to represent voters’ interests.
A new Illinois Policy Institute analysis finds that adults with no spouse and living with children are most likely to live below the poverty line. Education matters just as much.