by Kevin McDermott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The March 17 monthly meeting of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board began at 10 a.m. in Springfield.
The board members approved the minutes of the previous month's meeting. They discussed labor disputes from several school districts. They issued orders in several cases. They heard staff reports. They moved the date of the next monthly meeting. They took six votes (all unanimous), including the adjournment vote, which came at 11:16 a.m.
Their effective pay for that 76-minute meeting was about $7,800 each.
Four of the board members are paid $93,926 a year, with the chairwoman getting $104,358 for a job that generally entails one meeting per month, usually for one to two hours. Relevant documents are sent to board members' homes ahead of time. A full-time staff member gives them recommendations at the meeting. Most of the votes are unanimous. Some board members don't even travel to all the meetings, instead listening in by phone.
How do you get a gig like that? Technically, you just have to be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. But the members of the educational labor board aren't what you'd call typical citizens.
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