As an AFSCME strike looms on the horizon, many are questioning how a strike would affect state workers and Illinois residents. While a potential strike should have minimal impact on residents, AFSCME members have much more to lose.
The union representing Illinois state workers scheduled a strike authorization vote for sometime between Jan. 30 and Feb. 19 – and it could be the first AFSCME strike in state history.
Illinois’ state workers are the highest-paid in the nation when adjusting for cost of living.
AFSCME – the state’s largest government-worker union – spent two years pushing for contract provisions that would cost state taxpayers billions. Now that the union has lost before the state labor board, it has issued a “framework” for compromise. But that “framework” is merely a publicity stunt to make the union appear reasonable while union leaders threaten a strike to obtain contract provisions that burden state taxpayers.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agreement on a contract with the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council for conservation police officers, as well as 19 other Illinois government-worker unions, demonstrates that it is AFSCME – and not the governor – that is standing in the way of a fair contract for Illinois’ largest group of state workers.
2016 is ending much the same way it began for Illinois taxpayers – with AFSCME costing the state millions of dollars as it stalls progress on a contract for state workers. We can expect more of the same in 2017, with union leadership doing all it can to thwart Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s labor board – including the possibility of a state worker strike.
Peoria-based manufacturing giant Caterpillar announced Dec. 14 it will lay off even more employees – another blow to CAT employees in the state and around the globe. Yet while too many Illinoisans struggle under the state’s faltering economy, AFSCME continues to demand more pay and more benefits for state workers.
AFSCME's demands would cost Illinois taxpayers an additional $3 billion over the course of the contract.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, desperate to avoid the implementation of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s contract offer, filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Labor Relations Board, claiming the board violated the Open Meetings Act in reaching its decision that AFSCME and the state are at impasse in contract negotiations. The labor board met Dec. 13 and reissued the decision it announced at its meeting Nov. 15 and in writing Dec. 5 – that the state and AFSCME are at impasse.
A judge in Cook County has issued a temporary restraining order halting a labor board decision that would allow the state to implement its contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The delay costs Illinois taxpayers over $1 million more each day in state-worker health coverage costs.
A recent labor board decision means Gov. Bruce Rauner can start implementing his last contract offer to state workers. But the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees continues to obstruct progress toward a contract for state workers, vowing to appeal the labor board’s decision.
AFSCME’S outrageous demands when negotiating for a new contract led to an impasse in negotiations. Now the union is suing to keep the state from implementing the contract – while ignoring that state workers will maintain many lavish perks unlike anything offered in the private sector.
AFSCME’s most recent ploy is a clear demonstration of its discard for the labor process. The union isn’t interested in fair negotiations and outcomes – it is only interested in skewing the process to serve its own goals.
Over the years, AFSCME – the state’s largest government-worker union – has amassed incredible benefits for state workers through contract negotiations with the state. When AFSCME comes to the bargaining table, it isn’t AFSCME versus the governor – it’s AFSCME versus the state taxpayer. And AFSCME holds extraordinarily more power in the process than the state taxpayers footing the bill.