Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is being challenged by 23 labor unions over her Dec. 31 vaccination deadline. They claimed she is infringing on union members’ collective bargaining rights.
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has funded a lot of campaigns – and his legal defense – with money from government unions. Even if unions still back him in the New Year, members have options.
Decades of institutionalized financial mismanagement left Illinois with the nation’s worst fiscal health. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has been at the center of nearly every bad decision along the way.
The state’s government unions have heavily funded the election committees run by longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan – who then uses his influence to pass union-friendly bills.
Across all five state retirement systems, typical career workers pay for about 5% of the cost of their pension benefits. They receive an average of $1.7 million to $3.6 million.
So who wants to fund a highly unpopular politician’s sexual harassment settlement on behalf of a disgraced political worker under federal investigation? Executives at Illinois’ largest public-sector labor unions.
SEIU’s political action committees gave $113,200 to Friends of Michael J. Madigan – the same election committee the longtime Illinois House speaker used to pay legal fees in a sexual harassment lawsuit against his organization.
CTU will continue to fight with the mayor over the next two weeks. Whether they actually walk out remains to be seen. But their behavior has already revealed what union power politics is all about – and who pays the price.
What Harris has in common with Janus is immense courage. Both show the power of a single individual, an Illinoisan, to change the course of the state and the nation.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.