By Natasha Korcki – Chicago SunTimes
A colossal battle is looming in Springfield this week. It’s not over the budget, raising taxes, giving money to disabled adults or bailing out Chicago Public Schools.
No, this is pure Illinois labor vs. Gov. Bruce Rauner.
It distills a year’s worth of acrimony between the bitter rivals into one vote in the Illinois House, expected to come Wednesday.
At issue is whether House Democrats follow the Senate’s lead and override a Rauner veto of legislation that strips some of the governor’s negotiating powers in public sector union contracts. They’ll need a three-fifths majority to do that.
In a memo to its members, it said Rauner wanted to freeze wages, step raises, cut holiday and vacation, change overtime calculations, move workers to a less attractive pension system and make costly changes to employee and retiree health insurance plans.
The legislation affects collectivebargaining agreements ending by June 30, 2019. read more……
