YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE
Recent days in Springfield have been some of the most challenging we have ever encountered. In the face of the vicious attacks on teaching, unions and our most basic right to collectively bargain, you stayed informed, spoke out and made your voices heard. Make no mistake about it - YOU MADE THE DIFFERENCE. I have never been more proud to be an educator and a member of our union, the IFT.
Since December, IFT members have visited the union's Web site andFacebook page in record numbers. You have sent nearly 50,000 e-mails and made countless phone calls to your legislators telling them to protect our collective bargaining rights. You have asked lawmakers to support a desperately needed tax increase to avert thousands of layoffs, help the state pay school districts and vendors billions of dollars in overdue payments and provide critical revenue for public education and state services.
Your successful efforts on behalf of our state’s students and citizens will have a tremendous positive impact for years to come. Early this morning, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to increase the individual income tax from 3 to 5 percent to help our state climb out of its $15 billion deficit and get back on sound fiscal footing. The House and Senate also passed a bill that would allow the state to borrow fund