There is a lot of talk about former President Donald Trump being a threat to democracy. However, I wonder if public sector union bosses are the real threat to democracy.
We elect governors, mayors, state legislators, members of Congress and others to solve basic problems, but their hands are tied by public sector union bosses who control the machinery of government.
In 2022, Illinois voters enshrined collective bargaining into the state constitution, effectively giving union leaders unprecedented power over our elected representatives. Specifically: “No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.” The question must be asked: How can democracy work when the people we elect do not have the power to govern?
In the 2010 editorial “The Public-Union Ascendancy,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote that “the problem for democracy is that this creates a self-reinforcing cycle of higher spending and taxes. The unions help elect politicians, who repay the unions with more pay and benefits and dues-paying members, who in turn help to re-elect those politicians.”
A recent strike by Chicago Teachers Union members at Instituto del Progreso Latino schools illustrates the point. CBS News reports that in addition to fair wages, the union is calling for “sanctuary protections for immigrant students and employees.” Quite frankly, this is a legislative matter for policymakers, not the union.
A 2023 study by the Pennsylvania-based organization the Commonwealth Foundation, “The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the Country,” found that “the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU),” the four largest government unions, “spent $708.8 million on politics during the 2021–22 election cycle.”
The Commonwealth Foundation research showed the state of Illinois received $27.9 million in campaign cash — representing the highest amount spent during the cycle. Interestingly, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch was the largest legislative recipient, getting more than $1.2 million in campaign cash. Mayor Brandon Johnson was the highest local recipient, receiving more than $1.1 million, and Senate President Don Harmon received more than $900,000.
Many state legislators from Cook County are running unopposed in the March 19 primary election. Areas of Cook County and Chicago have some of the highest unemployment rates in the United States, high taxes, and high rates of crime, homelessness and failing schools. Perhaps citizens are so disillusioned that they believe nothing will change no, matter who is in office.
Let me be clear. I support our teachers, but their leadership has failed to concentrate on what is in the best interest of schoolchildren. Union bosses have focused more on political victories and intimidation tactics than improving educational outcomes for students and supporting their members. The CTU has become the new Democratic political machine.
In Illinois, generations of children have matriculated through school systems where they can’t read, write or do basic math. There is almost zero accountability for poor-performing teachers and administrators. According to the conservative advocacy group the Illinois Policy Institute in 2022, “just 27.4% of all students statewide could read at grade level by the end of third grade.” Even more troubling: “Just 11.1% of Black third grade students could read at grade level in 2022. In 20 school districts, no Black third grade students could read at grade level.”
According to The Nation’s Report Card, 2022 reading scores for “Black students in 8th grade had an average score in reading that was 32 points lower than that for white students.”
The teachers union bosses are standing in the way of reforming public education. They are some of the largest contributors to Democrats who control the Illinois legislature. And do not look for help from Washington policymakers because they, too, benefit from the largesse of teachers unions.
Johnson and the CTU, his former employer, align when it comes to an elected school board. This, too, is an illusion of democracy because the mayor and the CTU will control school board policy, contracts and jobs. The upcoming CTU contract will likely not be a negotiation but rather a payoff for helping get Johnson elected. I maintain that Johnson and his deputy mayor for education should recuse themselves from the negotiations. Nonetheless, Chicago taxpayers should prepare for higher salaries and near zero accountability for educating our children.
I suggest the following to curb the influence of government unions:
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle should enact executive orders prohibiting government employee unions from contributing to state and local campaigns.
• Pritzker, Welch, Harmon and Johnson should demand that parents have school choice.
• The legislature should bring back the Invest in Kids scholarship program.
• Pritzker, Johnson and Preckwinkle, when negotiating union contracts, should include commonsense provisions that ensure taxpayer savings and hold the line on overly generous pay, pension and health care cost increases.
I write this commentary to make the comfortable union bosses uncomfortable.
Willie Wilson is a business owner, philanthropist and former mayoral candidate.