Districts pressure locals

When is a contract not a contract?

Apparently, when times get hard and it would benefit the employer to tear it up.  The Elgin Teachers Association is taking some hits after the district administration let it be known that there might be fewer layoffs in the cash-strapped district if the union would agree to give up scheduled pay raises.

Elgin Teachers Association President Tim Davis said his 2,400-member union would be “concerned about the precedent of reopening (our) contract.”

Even in 2003, when U-46 was $40 million in the red and laid off 600 teachers, such a move was never made.

“It would be complicated,” said Dave Neal, the UniServ Director for U-46′s transportation union, education assistants union, service workers union and secretarial union.

“A lot of things are predicated on that,” he said. “And frankly the groups that I work with were all very modest in their salary gains anyhow, tying increases to the cost of living … there’s not much room to back up.”

348 employees in U-46 have received RIF notices, but it’s unclear what the actual financial situation in the district will be once the federal stimulus money arrives.

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Speaking of budgets, There has been a mini-debate behind the scenes as to whether it’s fair to suggest that the budget proposed by Gov. Pat Quinn could have been proposed by his disgraced predecessor.

Quinn, after all, is much different cat from Rod Blagojevich; For example, Quinn is considered by most informed people to be to be honest, and not just by Illinois state government standards.

However, the budget unveiled last week had a Eau de Blago scent to it.  Kurt Erickson knows why that is; former Blagojevich budget chief John Filan is still on the payroll at the Illinois Finance Authority as is another former budget director, Ginger Ostro.  A Quinn spokesperson acknowledges Filan and Ostro’s involvement.  The question is, why would a new “anti-Blago”  governor take their advice?

During Blagojevich’s six-year tenure, Filan pushed to close a variety of corporate tax loopholes, only to be turned back by the legislature.

Among the old concepts outlined Wednesday by Quinn is a $65 million bid to collect sales tax on leased business software. The proposal has been suggested at least three previous times and has gone nowhere.

In addition,

The new governor also wants to use money from the state’s pension system to help fill the budget hole, a concept that Filan championed in Blagojevich’s first term in office.

“The conventional wisdom in this building is that John Filan’s fingerprints are all over the budget,” said state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon.

Which reminds me,