Free Republic

Pritzker held a bill-signing ceremony for a measure bringing about mandatory supervised release for the state’s criminal justice system. ... Separately, the governor’s office announced he signed another 95 House bills and 39 Senate bills. Some take effect immediately, like House Bill 3751 that allows non-citizens to apply to be a police officer. Also effective immediately, the Illinois State Board of Education is required to adopt a literacy plan Other laws begin Jan. 1, 2024, like a measure allowing Illinois licensed motor vehicle dealers to conduct sales over the internet and deliver vehicles to customers. House Bill 1199 designates October...

The state of Illinois reached a new contract agreement with members of the AFSCME union that will cost taxpayers an additional $620 million over four years. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday announced the agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The state's previous contract with the union expired at the end of June. The $620 million in additional costs amounts to a raise of nearly 18% during that time. About $200 million of that would be during the current fiscal year. “Illinois is a pro-worker state, and when it comes to workers’ rights, my administration is...

With no major labor reform since the 1930s, Democrats are seizing on the opportunity to strengthen workers' rights -- including their ability to unionize. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the PRO (Protect the Right to Organize) Act, the most pro-worker labor reform in decades, according to the bill’s sponsors, by a vote of 225-206. Though it faces an uphill battle in the 50/50 split Senate, President Joe Biden has said that labor reform is one of his administration’s top priorities. The House passed a version of the bill last year, but it was dead on arrival in the...

On his first day in office, Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline. This controversial move was condemned by the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA). “In revoking this permit, the Biden Administration has chosen to listen to the voices of fringe activists instead of union members and the American consumer on Day 1,” Mark McManus, president of the UA, said on Monday. “Let me be very clear: When built with union labor by the men and women of the United Association, pipelines like Keystone XL remain the safest and most efficient modes of energy transportation in the...

East St. Louis is short $9.5 million between a budget deficit and back payments owed to its fire and police pensions. As a result, city leaders are closing a firehouse and laying off nine firefighters. Nine firefighters have been asked to hand in their gear and their fire station will temporarily close as East St. Louis, Illinois, faces a $5.5 million budget deficit and interception of nearly $4 million in state funding for debts owed to its police and fire pensions. Unfortunately, with 100% of the City’s state revenues being redirected to the police and fire pensions, we are faced...

(AgapePress) -- A union watchdog group says a new disclosure report confirms that the nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), is heavily involved in the wider liberal political movement and the Democratic Party. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the NEA gave $65 million last year to liberal groups such as People for the American Way, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and the Human Rights Campaign, which is the largest pro-homosexual lobby in the U.S. In the past, unions with at least one private sector member have had...

We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old" -- "Solidarity Forever" Famous Union Song ST. LOUIS -- Anybody who thought that organized labor is dead in America should have attended this week's "Change to Win" inaugural convention in St. Louis. The one-day event marked the official launch of a new labor federation comprised primarily of unions that disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO over the past few months -- the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE HERE. Also joining Change to Win were the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which...

Unions are losing members and clout at the bargaining table, but that doesn't mean they aren't still powerful players on the political scene. Now, Big Labor is trying to stop Social Security reform, even if it hurts union members. Unions are supposed to represent their members' interests by negotiating higher pay and better benefits, including pensions. In fact, union pension funds are the single biggest source of investment in the stock market, amounting to an estimated $6 trillion in 2003. Now, the AFL-CIO and individual unions are threatening some investment firms and corporations with pulling out their pension fund investments...