It's hard to believe, but who in his right mind would demand a 15 percent wage increase over three years in the middle of a recession. When most people are hoping to keep their jobs, and those who do keep them hope not to have a salary cut.
The first answer that comes to mind is: public employees. That's correct, teachers at Prairie-Hills School District 144 made that their initial wage demand in contract negotiations. Now I know that both sides shoot higher than they hope to get. But 15 percent over three years?
C'mon.
Here's one view on it.
The real problem in this state is that the teachers' union have so much power over the legislature that they have their own labor relations act. Another problem is that if there is a teachers' strike, the teachers lose nothing, because the days have to be made up.
What Illinois needs is something like the New York Taylor Law, under which strikes by all public employees are prohibited, union leaders can be held in contempt, and two days' pay is lost for each day missed, thus taking away the incentive to strike noted in my first paragraph.