Politicians Accelerate Chicago’s Race to Ruin
Chicago's financial crisis deepens due to reckless union-backed legislation increasing pension liabilities, with leaders failing to take corrective action.
Chicago's financial crisis deepens due to reckless union-backed legislation increasing pension liabilities, with leaders failing to take corrective action.
“The $86 billion giveaway to MEPPs inserted in the Biden Administration’s so-called ‘American Rescue Plan’ [ARP] has set the stage for even bigger bailouts in the future.”
On average, unfunded pension liabilities per capita are 43% lower in Right to Work states than in forced-unionism states.
State laws protecting employees’ Right to Work are strongly correlated with better- funded public pensions. On average, unfunded pension liabilities per capita are 40% lower in Right to Work states than in forced-unionism states. Chart by NRTWC Staff Union Dons…
Union Kingpins Now Blame Others For Benefit-Slashing Plan They Backed (source: National Right to Work October 2015 Newsletter) In the “lame duck” session of Congress called at the end of last year, lawmakers voted, without ever holding any public…
A stunning new actuary report on Detroit’s pension implosion has revealed that Detroit trustees doled out nearly $2 billion in undisclosed holiday “bonuses” to Detroit government workers and retirees negotiated by the city and its unions, Breitbart reports.
The Washington Examiner notes Big Labor officials are negotiating with Obama administration officials on a “fix” to spare multi-employer pension plans, which…
Shikha Dalmia of Reason looks at big labor's effort keep Michigan a second rate economic state through a series of referendums on the statewide ballot next month: We've seen Gov. Scott Walker's battle in Wisconsin and the Chicago Teachers Union strike next door. Now in Michigan comes another Midwestern political showdown that will carry enormous implications for the role of unions in American life. [media-credit name=" " align="alignright" width="300"][/media-credit]The Michigan Supreme Court recently approved the placement of a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot. If passed by voters, the so-called Protect Our Jobs amendment would give public-employee unions a potent new tool to challenge any laws—past, present or future—that limit their benefits or collective-bargaining powers. It would also bar Michigan from becoming a right-to-work state in which mandatory union dues are not a condition of employment. The budget implications are dire. Michigan public unions began pushing the initiative last year, shortly after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder—facing a $2 billion fiscal hole—capped public spending on public-employee health benefits at 80% of total costs. This spring, national labor unions joined the amendment effort after failing to prevent Indiana from becoming a right-to-work state. Bob King of the United Auto Workers said that Michigan's initiative would "send a message" to other states tempted to follow Indiana's example. The UAW, along with allies in the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters, poured $8 million into gathering 554,000 signatures—some 200,000 more than needed—to put Protect Our Jobs on the Michigan ballot.
[media-credit id=7 align=”alignright” width=”150″][/media-credit]As WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Conway reports, Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Chicago’s school system’s debt status, warning that the Chicago School Board, because of various provisions of the new teachers’ contract, will be hard-pressed to make the budget adjustments needed…