The alliance between Democrats and public unions is a dominant feature of modern politics, and the mutual love is growing. That’s the message of a new report by the Commonwealth Foundation. In 2021-2022, the four largest government unions spent $27.9 million in Illinois, $24.9 million in California, $13.2 million in Minnesota and $12.1 million in Pennsylvania. Unions accounted for almost 83% of current Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign funds, and teacher’s unions were the lion’s share. They are getting their money’s worth. Mr. Johnson will be renegotiating the Chicago Teachers Union contract in 2024 and unions will be on both sides of the negotiating table. Illinois Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch received $1.25 million in union PAC cash in the 2021-22 election cycle, more than any other state legislator in the country. Mr. Welch recently let an Illinois school-choice program for low-income children die because it was opposed by the unions. Chicago Teachers Union contract demands are totally divorced from reality – Wirepoints
May 8, 2024
36 Comments
Details emerging about Chicago Teachers Union’s upcoming contract show just how divorced its demands, both extreme and expensive, are from the reality at Chicago schools. It’s not just about massive salary increases, but also about money for migrant students, climate initiatives, abortions and gender-affirming care. About blocking parental notification. Count on CTU’s demands to veer further from reality until the public finally says no.
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 5/4/2024.
Gov. JB Pritzker calls it “ethics” reform.
It’s rare to see city leaders in Chicago take an open, unabashed stance on the collapse of literacy. To complain is deemed as too political, too racist or too anti-public schools. So it’s refreshing to see Willie Wilson, a successful businessman and leader of the black community, call for a literacy initiative “with the goal of getting 100% of Black students reading at grade level.”
The only way to stop this is moving out of the state and Defunding these crooks.
The Democrats in Illinois have sold out to the Public Sector Unions for votes. As a result, they have destroyed the quality of life for everyone else. Illinois is in a huge downward debt spiral that is forcing many people to move to other states.
The real deplorables.
Public sector unions are unconstitutional. They will soon be eliminated. Let freedom ring.
It’s like PPF says and he is correct. This is what the voters wanted. Add up all the union voters and their families and you have a very large voting block. At least 1.5-2M voters strong most of who pay union dues which in part is used to get the candidate in office which will serve their needs not necessarily the needs of the overall population.
Is it? From the WP linked article yesterday:
“In 2021, the Democratic majority in the Illinois legislature drew new district maps. Last year, citizens cast around 70,000 more votes statewide for Republican rather than for Democratic candidates for the Illinois House. The results: Democrats won 78 seats; the GOP, 40. In the state Senate, it was 40 Democrat to 19 Republican seats. Such is the state of our gerrymandered democracy in Illinois.”
If you break down the figures even more there most of our local tax money is determined by a small percentage of voters. Take the Rockford school district for example. There are approx 3,900 employees of which about 1,700 are teachers. Most of my property tax dollars go to whatever the teachers have agreed to in their contract negotiations which is about 60% of my tax bill. So 1,700 people out of 144,000 total in Rockford determine where my ridiculous property taxes go to with no public input whatsoever. That is less than 1.2% of the total population of Rockford… Read more »
Just a question here. Are the school board elections in your area very well attended? In my area there is very low attendance and the “pro school” types easily get the people they want meaning usually higher taxes.
No not at all. Most people do not know when/where the meetings take place besides most don’t care if you look at the demographics of the students. The parents pay very little in property taxes so it does affect them. The upper end homeowners have their kids in private schools most likely and they are professionals like doctors/lawyers/etc. Here are the rules for Dist 205 board meetings. Everything seems to be screened before the person can speak and is limited to 3 long minutes (sarcasm). Besides they are held on 7th street and not far away the neighborhood is less… Read more »
Apparently then the citizens of your school district are quite happy with the situation. It is the same here where I am. Parents’ want babysitters and to accomplish that goal they more or less say “give em what they want.”
Seems like most of the parents of the public school district are middle to low income and a large percentage are minorities. There are approx 27,000 students and many kids not all are from 2 parent households. That means there are at least 40,000 parents and if many vote for the status quo that outnumbers the higher income citizens who tend to live in more expensive homes by our standards $225K and tend to be more of the professional type.
20% turnout this past April in my area. Remember there were rounds of severe storms that day too. The vote was 60% for the 3 Pervert Progressives for Pornography slate to 40% for the 3 normal people slate. What’s weird however, is that there were 2 slates of 3 candidates each. The ballot said “vote for 3″….but the vote totals are really, really whacky. No two candidates had the same number of votes, and one candidate had TOO many votes, as if several hundred, upwards of 30% of voters, actually voted for four candidates, instead of three. Did several hundred… Read more »
It’s extortion and mob rule by ballot. PPF may be correct, but that doesn’t make it right.
Read my reply to debtor. In many/most of the time the amount of property taxes we pay are determined by a very very small % of total population with no voter input from the general public.
Stunning, the Chicago/Illinois Dem Machine is more powerful then ever. How these folk get away with portraying themselves to us 2nd class citizens as “progressives” fighting for “equity” is the biggest scam.
Illinois Dems and public sector unions have played a big part in making Illinois the most corrupt state in the US.
IMO, time to send all Illinois Dems to re-educations camps ASAP.
Maybe Mikey Madigan can be an instructor on public corruption!!