Waukegan teachers Pat LaScola, left, Jeanne Wagner and Vickie Iggo shout support as the Lake County Federation of Teachers union host a rally to protect collective bargaining rights and pension security Thursday outside the union hall in Gurnee. About 200 union workers attended the rally as a prelude to a bigger demonstration planned Saturday in Chicago.
Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
Representatives from several suburban unions rallied in Gurnee on Thursday afternoon to protect their collective-bargaining rights.
About 100 people gathered outside the Lake County Federation of Teachers office for the rally, which featured a few speakers and was a precursor to a larger protest planned for Saturday in Chicago.
They were particularly angry about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial plan to strip most public workers of collective bargaining rights.
“So we’re starting now, before our enemies decided to come to Illinois,” said Kelly Regnier, communications director for the Lake County teachers union.
Although activists and some lawmakers have been pushing for pension reform and education reform in Illinois for years, a Wisconsin-sized attack on teachers and unions has not been publicly proposed here.
A top official with an education-reform group called Stand for Children Illinois said Walker went too far.
“We support teachers’ rights to organize,” the group’s policy director, Jessica Handy, said in a telephone interview. “We think (what happened in) Wisconsin was a huge overreach.”
Top Republicans in Springfield have suggested teachers’ future pension benefits need to be scaled back in order to help pull the state out of its budget hole.
The union members gathered in Gurnee weren’t just angry at Republicans. They also booed when teacher union President Mike McGue mentioned House Speaker Michael Madigan’s name.
“We’re not going to take this stuff in Illinois,” McGue said.
Matthew LaPierre, representative for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, talks to the crowd as the Lake County Federation of Teachers union host a rally to protect collective bargaining rights and pension security Thursday outside the union hall in Gurnee. About 200 union workers attended the rally as a prelude to a bigger demonstration planned Saturday in Chicago.
Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.comDemonstrators, including Deb Phelps in light blue jacket, line Route 41 in Gurnee as the Lake County Federation of Teachers union host a rally to protect collective bargaining rights and pension security Thursday outside the union hall in Gurnee. About 200 union workers attended the rally as a prelude to a bigger demonstration planned Saturday in Chicago.
Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.comMichael McGue, president of the Lake County Federation of Teachers union, speaks during a rally by the union to protect collective bargaining rights and pension security Thursday outside the union hall in Gurnee. About 200 union workers attended the rally as a prelude to a bigger demonstration planned Saturday in Chicago.