About 2,650 workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 73 will get raises totaling 10.75 percent over five years. In exchange, the environmental service workers, medical technicians and Health and Hospitals System administrators and janitors will pay an additional 1 percent toward health care. That’s the same deal that Teamsters Local 700 workers got in separate contracts approved by the board Wednesday and last month. Only vote against it came from the Rauner appointee, Tim Schneider. Comment: Never mind that Cook County, too, is broke. Preckwinkle herself says unfunded pension liability growing by $360M/year, requiring a 50% property tax

Comment: Most politicians on both sides have credibility challenges, but Rahm seems to be going deaf on this: Nobody, including his supporters, believes anything he says. Just too many whoppers like this. Not good for anybody.

“Defined benefit pensions plans are supposed to protect workers from the turmoil of stock markets and investment risk. But though you can get a court order against arithmetic, that doesn’t change the math.”

Comment: Good article, but it focuses only on contributions required by statute, which Springfield can change. The bigger question is who, if anybody, is liable to the pensioners if the pensions run dry, which we discussed here.

The strength of the market has also triggered the first wave of development since the recession. Five new projects are either under way or expected to launch sometime in 2015, which will create new challenges for owners of existing buildings.