Uncertainty over the state’s next contract with AFSCME remains, as administrative law judge rules that the state and union are at a stalemate on certain issues, but have room for more negotiating on others.
WHAT HAPPENED: Illinois’ contract with the union representing more than 35,000 employees of state government expired in June 2015. For more than a year, the two parties have failed to reach agreement on the next contract. The issue of how to resolve the lengthy contract talks is now in the hands of a labor judge and a state labor board.
Today, an Illinois administrative law judge ruled in a 250-page document that contract negotiations between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s largest government union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, are at a partial impasse.
This means that on some issues, the union and the state are indeed at a stalemate. The judge’s recommendation is for the next contract to adopt the state’s position on those issues in order to get the two parties closer to resolution. But the judge also wrote that there is still room for the two parties to continue negotiating on other issues.
WHAT’S NEXT: A long procedural road is ahead before the state and the union will settle on the next contract for employees of state government. The union and state will likely appeal the administrative law judge’s decision to the Illinois Labor Relations Board. From there, either party can appeal to Illinois state courts.
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE’S TAKE: From labor expert and staff attorney Mailee Smith: “The state is in a fiscal crisis, but AFSCME leadership keeps demanding more and more from taxpayers. Taxpayers deserve an affordable contact, and we deserve certainty over what state employee compensation will be in the next few years as we navigate out of a deep, financial mess. The union needs to realize that Illinois taxpayers cannot afford to pay for more raises for state workers, for benefit increases and to preserve unreasonable contract terms. It’s unfortunate that contract talks have dragged on so long without resolution and without certainty over how much a major component of the state budget will cost.
“Fortunately, for Illinois taxpayers the news today is a partial victory. The judge agreed that a stalemate exists on the issues of subcontracting, vacation, holiday scheduling, leaves of absence and other issues – which means there is a potential that the state’s contract proposal on these fronts will make their way into the final contract. But we still don’t know what the final contract will look like – or more importantly, how much it will cost taxpayers.”
BACKGROUND: AFSCME has been without a contract since summer 2015. Negotiations have dragged on for months, with 67 days of meetings, 24 formal negotiating sessions and more than 300 different proposals exchanged between the two parties.
Officials from the the union haven’t been willing to back down on demands for a contract that Rauner says will cost the state an additional $3 billion in wage and benefit increases. According to the AFSCME website, the union is seeking a $1,000 pay increase for workers during the first year of the contract, a 2.25 percent pay increase during the second year of the contract, a 3 percent pay increase during the third year of the contract and another 3 percent pay increase during the fourth year of the contract – in addition to “step” and “longevity” pay increases, and other benefit increases. The union is also pushing back on attempts to rein in overtime and paid-time-off policies that are out of norm with other state government policies and the private sector.
THE AVERAGE SALARY for employees of Illinois state government is $59,088. State government workers in Illinois are the highest-paid in the country after adjusting for cost-of-living differences between the states.
More than half of state workers retire in their 50s, and career workers receive AVERAGE LIFETIME PENSION benefits of $1.6 million. This is in addition to Social Security. According to state data, the average retired career state worker put just $63,000 into his or her own retirement fund.
State government workers in Illinois are eligible for FREE RETIREE HEALTH INSURANCE after working for the state for 20 years. This benefit has a cash value of $200,000 to $500,000 for each retiree, all paid for by taxpayers. Free retiree health care is virtually unheard of in the private sector.
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