Huntley teachers didn’t think 5.43% in the first year and the Cost of Living, plus 0.65% in the next three years was not good enough.

I wonder if they would have settled for what AFSCME, the state workers’ union is presenting it its members:

That 15.2% is what reporter Doug Finke of Springfield’s State Journal-Register is saying is in the AFSCME deal. “When compounded, (the) total (is) 16.3 percent over the four-year term of the contract,” but the raise does not kick in until January 1st.

The article continues,

“Workers will get two raises totaling 4 percent in calendar 2009, two raises totaling 4 percent in 2010, two raises totaling 6 percent in 2011 and a raise of 1.25 percent on Jan. 1, 2012.”

The memo the Springfield paper obtained brags that the net increase is greater than in the last four-year contract.

It was reported somewhere that Governor Rod Blagojevich’s negotiators were pushing to get union members to pay for part of their pension or convert it to something like a 401(k). That did not happen.

The proposal also calls for $6 monthly insurance premium increases during the first two years and a $50 deductible for prescription drugs.

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The photo of the Illinois State Capitol was taken from the south. It shows the side on which the Illinois House of Representatives meets.