Democracy demands learning and voting -- this spring, too

Citizenship never stops, really. It didn’t end with voting in November, and it requires participation between now and April 4.

That’s when the consolidated local elections – held in the spring of odd-numbered years – will pick local representatives to affect community services and household budgets, since public services are funded by taxes and fees that those officials administer.

There are many races ahead, partly because Illinois has more units of government than other states. (And that can seem intimidating for engaged citizens trying to inform themselves.)

There’s no February primary for five At-Large seats on Peoria’s City Council after the withdrawal of Shawn Allen, so 10 candidates will compete: Demario Boone, Bernice Gordon-Young, Lawrence Maushard, Benjamin Nicks, Annu Uddavolu, Clara Underwood-Forman, and Mike Vespa, plus incumbents John Kelly, Zach Oyler and Kiran Velpula.

Elsewhere on April’s Peoria County ballot will be townships from Akron to Trivoli, 9 libraries (including Brimfield), 14 municipalities (including Peoria Heights and West Peoria), 4 park districts (including Peoria’s), 22 school districts (including Brimfield, Illinois Valley Central in Chillicothe, Illinois Central College, and Peoria), and 1 fire district (Limestone).

Brimfield is mentioned because it’s seen some signs of the “culture wars” that have made U.S. schools and libraries battlegrounds over reading material that could be used or censored.

In Illinois, schools and libraries have been criticized by concerned or misinformed parents and even hate groups opposed to everything from mask mandates to Young Adult novels about racism. Libraries in Barrington, Lincolnwood, Oak Brook, Wheaton, and others all faced book bans, proposed defunding, staff firings and threats.

“When Proud Boys are showing up at library board meetings in Illinois, depending on how armed they are, that’s somewhere between harassment and domestic terrorism,” commented John Chrastka, director of the Riverside, Ill.-based EveryLibrary, a national group working with libraries.

As the Associated Press reported, “Conservatives continued their efforts to pull books from schools and libraries, with Missouri alone targeting nearly 300, from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ to a manga edition of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ The American Library Association reported surging levels of attempted bannings, especially books with racial and LGBTQ themes, and widespread harassment.”

In Brimfield, dozens of people attended a November meeting to complain about parts of a English language curriculum some said were inappropriate, dealing with conflicts between settlers and Native Americans or other unfortunate situations.

Besides a small number of voices getting outsized attention for what’s available to read, local politics has an increasing risk of dirty tricks, such as bizarre mailings during Travis Weaver’s successful challenge to State Rep. Mark Luft (R-93^rd) in June’s Republican primary, or, recently, the mysterious addition of phony signatures supporting veteran Peoria school board member Martha Ross, which she herself noted when turning in her petitions.

So we all must be vigilant. Unfortunately, turnout is usually lower in consolidated elections than even midterms, so the chance that people who don’t represent a community’s viewpoint can take over.

Democracy survived Jan. 6 and challenges since, here and abroad, from most election deniers losing in the midterms to support for Ukraine and for Brazil’s election to demonstrators in Iran and China.

“I do think the story of the last year has been, if hopeful isn’t the right word, at least more mixed,” said Freedom House president Michael Abramowitz in the New York Times.

Whether about city officials or road commissioners, we share a responsibility to take part.

“The building blocks of the foundational integrity of our democracy, and the most intense threats to it, are unfolding at the local level – on school boards, county commissions, among state court judges,” said attorney, author and Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill. “It is precisely in these ‘in-between years’ that we fail – fail to organize, to attend political and town hall meetings, to register new voters, to lay the groundwork for new legislation – that we have such a tenuous hold on the reins of democracy.”

Citizens of any representative structure – federal or local government, church councils or pickleball leagues – have an obligation to work for the common good, not just political parties or candidates. That civic duty is part of having a voice, and it requires us all to learn facts to make informed decisions.

“America remains poised at the precipice of democratic crisis,” Ifill said. “We bought some time in 2022, but we are by no means out of the woods. That is why we cannot afford to let up in 2023.”

Workers haven't sacrified enough: Federal Reserve

At press time, Wall Street showed big gains after government jobs data reported workers’ wage growth slowing and job gains holding steady, and the Federal Reserve signaled that its long string of interest-rate hikes will remain necessary to fight inflation.

In other words, workers haven’t sacrificed enough on behalf of their employers.

When the stock market celebrates and prospers at the misfortunes of regular Americans, you know something’s screwy.

WAGES

The average hourly pay growth slipped to its slowest pace in 16 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

Wages for U.S. workers were up 4.6% in December from a year earlier – the smallest raise for workers since two summers ago. That also compares with a recent peak of 5.6% last March.

But such weaker pay improvement hurts workers, obviously – especially when they’re already not keeping up with inflation.

President Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein said the administration hopes for growth in inflation-adjusted wages.

“What’s important to us is that families have the buying power through their paychecks to get ahead,” he said.

Hoping may not be enough with Feb Chair Jerome Powell.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The jobless rate has fallen slightly, from 3.6% to 3.5%, matching a 53-year low, the Labor Department said. Common sense might conclude fewer folks unable to work is bad news. But not the Fed.

JOBS

Employers added 223,000 jobs last month – 2022's monthly average was 375,000 – so many consider that a demonstration that the economy remains healthy. However, the Fed sees strong job growth as troublesome because it lowers the jobless rate, which could keep pay gains high.

Powell in recent remarks blamed inflation on strong job growth, which can force employers to raise pay to recruit and retain workers, and tempt them to raise prices to pass on higher labor costs to their customers without sacrificing profits..

Of course, as Economic Policy Institute analyst Elise Gould told Press Associates Union News Service this month, the Federal Reserve is so concerned about inflation that its interest rate hikes, intended to curb that, could hold back workers’ pay instead.

When that happens workers-as-consumers cut their spending or go into debt, neither of which is good news for the economy.

In October, I reported a comment from Roosevelt Institute economist Josh Mason, who said, “If you endorse today’s rate hikes, and the further tightening it implies, you are endorsing the reasoning behind it: ‘Labor markets are too tight, wages are rising too quickly, workers have too many options, and we need to shift bargaining power back toward the bosses’.”

Such a one-sided approach is “an objectively anti-worker policy,” according to City University of New York teacher Samir Sonti. “This approach is also plain wrong-headed.”

The result is making workers accept less compensation so business can continue to rack up record profits,

If you think that’s irrational bordering on malicious, you’re not alone. As Sonali Kolkaytkar of Free Speech TV said, “If more money in poor people’s pockets is supposedly the reason for inflation, why is more money in rich people’s pockets not an incriminating factor?”

NLRB ruling unlikely to spur G&D to work with Iron Workers

The National Labor Relations Board last month ruled that in cases where companies break labor law, violators’ punishment will dramatically increase – which logically should discourage law-breaking and encourage some employers to avoid now-costly criminal behavior.

But a central Illinois company involved in one of the area’s highest-profile disputes probably isn’t one of those employers, says the union behind organizing a small Iron Workers unit.

Dozens of workers at G&D Integrated in Morton some 17 months ago started organizing at the transportation, warehousing and manufacturing company. In September of 2021, a group of them met with management and asked for union recognition. The company refused. So that October in an NLRB election, G&D workers voted 18-4 to unionize anyway. After initially agreeing to start contract talks, G&D negotiators suspended bargaining in January 2022, and by March 1 of last year, most of the work force was laid off.

Asked whether stronger enforcement with stiffer financial consequences could bring G&D back to the table, a Peoria-based district representative said he was doubtful.

“My gut feeling is no. They’ve broken to many laws,” said Vince Di Donato, with the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers union. And “they haven’t seemed willing to even talk.

“There is some hope,” he continued. “We’re looking to push the envelope a little bit more.”

The NLRB – responsible for enforcing federal laws protecting workers’ rights to strike, to be free of retaliation, and to join together to improve their wages and working conditions –  on Dec. 13 decided to expand the fees and penalties the agency can collect from employers that illegally terminate workers for labor activism.

"Employees are not made whole until they are fully compensated for financial harms that they suffered as a result of unlawful conduct," said Labor Board chair Lauren McFerran.

That’s much different that the last several decades, when employers found guilty of firing workers for their involvement in labor organizing – a legal right – have only had to pay for the employee's reinstatement and lost wages.

Labor advocates have long said that’s amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist – the cost of doing business (non-union).

In some ways, legal protections are less relevant than worker power, Di Donato said.

“Don’t get me wrong; labor laws are great,” he said. “But workers were unionizing before there were labor laws. When the work force sticks together, we don’t need laws or politics.”

This far, the Iron Workers have filed more than 150 charges of law-breaking with the NLRB, mostly Unfair Labor Practice allegations ranging from wrongful termination and illegal surveillance, to improper discipline and interrogation, and discrimination. Most remain active.

“The Board dismissed a few – three, I think – but the last we were told, they have four agents working on the case,” Di Donato said. “Right now, it’s a matter of them all sitting down at one time and figuring out how to proceed to take this all before a judge.

“We’ll see,” he added. “We’ll stir the pot. But I doubt a [federal] policy will change some employers and there’s a special place in Hell for people like that.”