From Wisconsin to Illinois?

Illinois isn't Wisconsin.  After all, legislators from Wisconsin and Indiana fled here.  And neither the state government nor our administration has made an open attack on collective bargaining.  Or are we too close to Wisconsin for comfort?  The administration has now cut off bargaining with the civil service union (ACsES) and with the NTT union, after short and rather cursory attempts at mediation.  And everyone expects that they will follow the same strategy with the Faculty Association.  They have declared that bargaining is at an impasse.  Is it? 

"We are all badgers now"

Stanley Fish (no great liberal on many academic issues) and Walter Michaels discuss the importance of faculty unions in today's environment on Fish's NY Times blog.