Link, Wilson: Should administrators get paid during teachers strike?
Spurred by the Waukegan teachers strike, Democratic state Sen. Terry Link is floating the idea of prohibiting school administrators from being paid during an employee walkout.
Link's idea was criticized by his Republican opponent, Don Wilson, as a ploy to win votes from teachers union members a week before the Nov. 4 election.
Wilson and Link are running in Senate District 30, which includes parts or all of Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, Lincolnshire, Mettawa, Mundelein, North Chicago, Park City, Vernon Hills, Waukegan and Wheeling.
Link, a Waukegan resident who's been a state senator since 1997, said Monday internal pressure among administrators - who presumably would want to keep receiving their paychecks - could help spur contract negotiations to prevent a teachers union from calling a strike or end a walkout early. Waukegan teachers and other union employees have been on strike since Oct. 2.
Just like the teachers, Link said, administrators shouldn't receive money from taxpayers if they are idle during a strike.
"Everybody needs a little skin in the game," he said.
But Wilson, a Gurnee trustee making his first run at a state-level position, contends Link's proposal is just an effort to gain votes from teachers union members that wouldn't help taxpayers. Campaign financial disclosure documents submitted to the state show Link received $10,000 from the Illinois Federation of Teachers union last week.
"How dare he use this (Waukegan strike) politically?" Wilson said of Link.
Link said his idea is anything but a ploy and that he didn't seek attention when he tried to help find a solution early in the Waukegan strike. He said he wants to introduce the proposal when the General Assembly's fall veto session starts late next month.
"You know what?" Link said. "The only people losing in this are the kids."
Link and Wilson also differ on other issues, such as whether a temporary income tax increase should be extended or made permanent.
Wilson, a small-business owner, said he opposes a continuation of the income tax hike because it was sold as temporary when approved in 2011.
Link said he wants to explore all avenues before deciding the income tax issue. He said an expansion of casino gambling and identifying and ending wasteful practices in state government could fill a budget hole that would occur if the 5 percent tax rate reverted to 3.75 percent at year's end, as scheduled.