Rauner moves to declare impasse in negotiations with AFSCME
Rauner moves to declare impasse in negotiations with AFSCME
Lacking signs of progress after 24 bargaining sessions with Illinois’ largest government-employee union, Gov. Bruce Rauner says that “further negotiation is no longer worthwhile.” AFSCME continues to ignore the fact that the people who pay its members’ salaries and benefits, Illinois taxpayers, continue to struggle in a difficult Illinois economy. Illinois workers, faced with stagnant earnings, are now paying for AFSCME salaries that are double their own.
By Ted Dabrowski
Chicago Public Schools debt slides deeper into ‘junk’ status
Chicago Public Schools debt slides deeper into ‘junk’ status
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services issued a two-notch downgrade to the Chicago Board of Education on Jan. 15, citing failure to address the district’s structural financial problems.
By Austin Berg
Make body cameras mandatory to improve police accountability
Make body cameras mandatory to improve police accountability
Ninety-two percent of Americans support a body camera requirement for police officers; to enhance transparency and accountability, Chicago should require its police to use body cameras.
By Bryant Jackson-Green
Court testimony: Center of Chicago red-light-camera scandal ordered donations to Madigan’s political organization
Court testimony: Center of Chicago red-light-camera scandal ordered donations to Madigan’s political organization
Redflex bagman Martin O’Malley says John Bills ordered him to pay thousands of dollars to Mike Madigan’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization.
By Austin Berg
Illinois is unprepared for the next recession
Illinois is unprepared for the next recession
Sky-high debt and a meager rainy day fund make Illinois the second-least prepared state in the U.S. for its capacity to weather a recession.
By Ted Dabrowski
GE rejects Chicago as home for corporate headquarters, cites pension debt
GE rejects Chicago as home for corporate headquarters, cites pension debt
General Electric will move its corporate headquarters and 800 jobs to Boston, Mass., from Fairfield, Conn., noting its concerns about Chicago’s government-worker pension debt in its rejection of the Windy City.
By Ted Dabrowski
Illinois taxpayers will pay steep penalty rate in $500M bond issuance
Illinois taxpayers will pay steep penalty rate in $500M bond issuance
Illinois has the lowest credit rating among the 50 states, forcing taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more in borrowing costs than residents of states in better fiscal condition.
By Ted Dabrowski
AFSCME worker salaries grew 5 times faster than Illinois worker earnings from 2005-2014
AFSCME worker salaries grew 5 times faster than Illinois worker earnings from 2005-2014
Illinois could have saved a cumulative $3.5 billion had AFSCME salaries simply grown at the rate of inflation since 2004.
By Ted Dabrowski
Illinois’ budget from the inside: A conversation with State Budget Director Tim Nuding
Illinois’ budget from the inside: A conversation with State Budget Director Tim Nuding
Donna Arduin is an Illinois Policy Institute senior fellow and a partner at Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics, a group that advises federal, state and municipal leaders, as well as political candidates and private-sector clients, on economic, fiscal and state policies.
By Donna Arduin
Supreme Court to hear arguments on forced union fees
Supreme Court to hear arguments on forced union fees
On Jan. 11, lawyers for the plaintiffs in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that the First Amendment prohibits the government from forcing its employees to pay union fees.
Illinois ended 2015 down 14,500 manufacturing jobs, closing in on an all-time low for factory work
Illinois ended 2015 down 14,500 manufacturing jobs, closing in on an all-time low for factory work
Illinois’ manufacturing job losses accelerated in 2015, while most neighboring and Great Lakes states continued to post gains in factory jobs.
By Michael Lucci