Everybody in the pool: Nearly 96 percent of Illinois state workers are in unions

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Across the country, union membership has plunged during the last few decades. Just 6.9 percent of the private-sector workforce is in a labor union today.

Organized labor is stronger in the public sector, with unions representing 37 percent of the government workforce.

And then there is Illinois. Try to find a state worker who isn't in a union. It's almost impossible. Nearly 96 percent of the state government workforce is unionized. Yes, almost everybody. Bosses, middle managers, front-line workers.

How did this happen? In part because as state leaders were forced to deal with mushrooming costs in recent years, they were unable or unwilling to make demands on the organized workforce. So, when it came time to reduce staff or freeze pay, they turned to the small number of nonunion workers. Some nonunion workers lost their jobs — and many others hurriedly sought to join a union for job protection. The Illinois Labor Relations Board, made up of members appointed by the governor, routinely approved the bids to join.

Gov. Pat Quinn exacerbated the situation by cutting an election-year deal in 2010 with theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The deal guaranteed union workers would not be laid off through June 2012. That meant nonunion workers got stuck with forced furlough days, layoffs and no pay raises. In some cases, they watched the union employees who worked beneath them pass them up on the pay scale. (Recall that, as the ink was drying on this agreement, AFSCME rewarded Quinn with its election endorsement. Don't you love coincidences? Those moments when like-minded people find one another?)

Barack Obama's coalition.