In Defense of Illinois’s Public-Union Contract

Illinois state workers protect children from abuse and neglect, care for aging veterans and people with disabilities, keep prisons secure and supervise parolees, monitor air and water quality and much more. During the pandemic, they answered the call.

Given all these employees do, the wage increases in their new union contract (“J.B. Pritzker, Public Union Boss,” Review & Outlook, July 31) are fair and deserved, as well as consistent with state and national averages. The terms are also intended to address the severe staff shortages in state government—by making wage rates fairer and committing to strengthen recruiting efforts and streamline the hiring process.

Your concern about Illinois’s “fiscal and economic health” is misplaced. Illinois finances and bond rating are the best in decades. Putting the squeeze on working-class people who have dedicated their careers to public service isn’t fiscal responsibility, it’s harsh and ill-conceived austerity.

Lee Saunders and Roberta Lynch

President, Afscme International

Executive director, Afscme Council 31

Washington and Chicago

Your editorial takes Illinois Gov. Pritzker to task for a contract agreement with state workers, alleging that it will undermine the budget and burden taxpayers. In June, however, Mr. Pritzker signed his fifth balanced budget into law, providing more money for pensions and the rainy-day fund, along with major boosts for education, healthcare and childcare.

Illinois has seen six consecutive months of gains in payroll jobs and nine months of an unchanged or decreased unemployment rate. The Chicagoland area ranks first for corporate relocations and expansion, and Illinois ranks second as a whole. All three major rating agencies have upgraded Illinois’s credit eight times under Mr. Pritzker’s leadership, while Illinois became only the fifth state to produce a trillion dollars in annual economic activity.

This is hardly the record of a job-destroyer or profligate spender. Many red-state governors would embrace such results. Judging by his double-digit margin of re-election in 2022, most Illinoisans have, as well.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.)

Schaumburg, Ill.