By Paul Kersey
09/25/2013
School has been back in session for about a month now, and teachers across Illinois are busy making lesson plans, grading papers and more. But they should also be thinking about whether or not they want to contribute to their union’s political campaigns. Public school teachers are almost always forced to pay union dues or...
By Justin Hegy
09/13/2013
Labor unions are losing influence, popularity and the fight over labor policy in many states. To soften their fall, unions have dramatically increased political spending.
By Justin Hegy
09/13/2013
Labor unions are losing influence, popularity and the fight over labor policy in many states. To soften their fall, unions have dramatically increased political spending. A study from the Center for Public Integrity shows labor unions have notably increased political spending nationally in the first half of 2013. During the six-month period, unions contributed $10 million to...
By Paul Kersey
07/04/2013
Earlier this week I wrote about Pam Harris, the Western Springs, Ill., mother who is at risk of having a union siphon off state aid money meant to help her care for her disabled son. So how is it that Harris, and so many like her, found themselves treated as employees by the state? Why don’t...
By Paul Kersey
07/01/2013
Illinois resident Pam Harris has a son, Josh, who is 24 years old and suffers from Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a rare genetic malady that leaves him moderately handicapped mentally and at the same time affects his joints so that he is prone to dislocations. Josh can move around the house and do simple chores. He’s also...
TAGS: Pam Harris, SEIU: Service Employees International Union
By Paul Kersey
06/26/2013
A recent Google Consumer Surveys poll shows that a third of union household members would quit their union if it weren’t for the fact that doing so would cost them their jobs. Because Illinois lacks a Right-to-Work law, thousands of workers are forced to pay dues or fees to a union that they don’t believe...
TAGS: Civil Rights Act, unions
Earlier today, the House Appropriations-Human Services Committee heard House Bill 6253. This bill would impose ObamaCare's massive expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Illinois.
On Friday, state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, a Republican from Park Ridge, signed onto ObamaCare's expansion. She, too, voted for the moratorium on expanding the program earlier this year.
By Paul Kersey
12/18/2012
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...
By Jonathan Ingram
12/10/2012
On top of the state’s massive pension debt, Illinois taxpayers are saddled with another $54 billion in debt for retiree health benefits. For years, retired state and university workers have paid little or nothing toward the cost of their health insurance premiums. With the annual cost for these benefits rapidly approaching $1 billion and crowding out other...
