by Fran Eaton
So the state workers and the state schools' teachers union have decided not to endorse in the race for governor this time around. AFSCME didn't endorse in 1990 or 1994 (Edgar won both times). It's a first for the IEA.
Blagojevich is happy with the non-endorsement. That means union members aren't being told to vote for Topinka. But it also means the union members are free agents of sorts -- free to support just who they want, if anyone, in the governor's race.
Why no endorsement? Neither the state workers nor the state teachers are happy with what their employer -- the state/the taxpayers -- is offering them. Cutbacks have forced the layoff of state workers. They want their members' jobs back.
Teachers are unhappy with both candidates' primary source of funding proposals -- one a casino in Chicago and the other the sale of the state lottery. The IEA wants Illinois to move away from school funding based on property taxes to one based fully on income taxes.
Their position is understandable. After all, it is so frustrating to see local tax referendums lose time and time again. If the public school funding system was based on income taxes, all you would need to do to boost funding and get more money for schools and teacher salary increases would be to elect legislators who will raise income taxes incrementally with a vote or two in the General Assembly.
That approach to get more funding would be so much easier and efficient, wouldn't it? Especially with the number of lawmakers indebted to the IEA for political contributions through the years.
Maybe AFSCME and the IEA should be asked to do what the pilots' unions have been forced to do as of late. Working within a struggling industry, employees have had to negotiate pay cuts in order to keep their companies afloat. After all, in the real world, people have to pitch in and be willing to make sacrifices for the betterment and the long run success of the industry, right?
Well, teachers and prison workers. . . you can't endorse a candidate because their funding proposals won't fix all your woes. Okay. How about giving us taxpayers a break and helping along your "industry" by offering to make sacrificial salary cuts for the long term betterment of the public system?
Show us how much you care about the children and offer to take cutbacks. And while they're at it, the administrators should do the same thing. We'd save millions if administrators would join the effort. Such a move would certainly be a public relations' dream.
Doing something like that makes much more sense than making demands on "investors" like us taxpayers to cough up more money when we're not seeing a satisfactory ROI. As a matter of fact, most fellow investors I talk to would love to have a chance to pull out altogether and choose another place to put our hard-earned dollars.
IEA and AFSCME members are free to vote for whom they choose November 7. And thank goodness, so are the voters of Illinois. Now, if we only had a choice. . .
