Familiarity with labor law terminology helps Illinoisans understand the impact of government-worker unions and the need for labor reform in the state.

The Chicago Teachers Union has threatened to strike as early as April 1 over Chicago Public Schools’ announced plan to stop paying a portion of teachers’ required contributions to their pension fund. Under Illinois labor law, however, CTU cannot legally strike before mid- to late-May.

While no definitive legal opinion has been issued on the merits of local Right to Work, Madigan has charged Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal with violating federal labor law.

Wednesday marked the second day of hearings before the National Labor Relations Board, which will determine whether Northwestern University football players seeking to unionize are employees of the school. When the story of Northwestern football players trying to unionize, with the assistance of the United Steelworkers, broke in late January, it illustrated a huge disconnect...

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.

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...