CHICAGO (Aug. 11, 2016) – The union contract that covers more than 35,000 employees of Illinois state government contains vague disciplinary policies, questionable overtime practices and excessive paid-time-off policies, among other alarming provisions, according to a new report released today by the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute. 

Gov. Bruce Rauner has been negotiating for more than a year with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a government union that represents the vast majority of state workers. The union’s most recent contract with the state expired June 30, 2015, and now Rauner is negotiating the first contract of his term. The union is demanding billions of dollars in higher salaries and benefits, and since negotiations have not gone its way, is reportedly threatening to strike as early as Sept. 1. 

The Institute’s close review of the expired contract finds that previous governors agreed to deals with AFSCME that contained excessive and expensive perks unheard of in the private sector and even other levels of government, and failed to create an environment of accountability in state government. 

“AFSCME does all it can to perpetuate the myth that it is somehow a victim in contract negotiations with the state, but the evidence paints a very different picture,” said Mailee Smith, staff attorney and labor expert at the Illinois Policy Institute. “Looking at the union’s most recent agreement with the state, we find that AFSCME members receive benefits that are practically unheard of in the private sector – as well as in other levels of government. This is on top of highest-in-the-nation average pay, regular and recurring raises, and extremely generous health care and retirement benefits. Illinois is in a fiscal crisis and many families are suffering; it’s unfair for taxpayers to keep footing the bill for these extraordinary demands.”

The Illinois Policy Institute’s review of the most recent AFSCME contract found:

• Generous overtime: Thousands of AFSCME workers are eligible for overtime after working 7.5 hours in a day. For example, an AFSCME worker who works 8.5 hours in one day will be paid 7.5 hours of regular pay plus one hour at a rate of time-and-a-half. An AFSCME employee can also receive overtime if he or she comes to work late, and then makes up the lost time by working later than “normal hours.”

• Lax disciplinary policies: AFSCME employees are protected from certain disciplinary actions and actually can benefit from bad behavior. According to one policy, an AFSCME employee can have 10 unauthorized absences over a two-year period without penalty. The employee does not have to use personal or vacation time during these unauthorized absences. The contract also provides that there is “no general policy of docking for late arrival.” 

• Excessive leaves of absence: The AFSCME contract includes more than 15 different leaves of absence. While several of these leaves of absence are reasonable and to be expected in any professional field – such as maternity leave or jury duty – others go far beyond what is expected in the private sector, where it’s nearly unheard of for an employer to hold a worker’s position for an extended period of time. For example, the state is required to keep available a job for a state worker who is elected to state office until the state official’s elected term is over. The contract also allows as many as 30 employees at a time to be granted leaves of absence – for up to two years each – to serve as AFSCME representatives or officers at the international, state or local level.

• Holiday pay: AFSCME workers receive 13 paid holidays – including Election Day. Federal government workers receive 10 calendar holidays. For 10 of 13 of the holidays, an AFSCME employee will receive double the pay if he or she works on the holiday. Employees who work on Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day receive double-time-and-one-half of their hourly wage.

AFSCME currently is seeking more than $3 billion in higher salaries and benefits, including raises that range from 11.5 to 29 percent. The governor has instead asked AFSCME for a temporary salary freeze in return for new merit pay and incentive bonuses, to bring the contract in line with what taxpayers can afford.

Past reports from the Illinois Policy Institute have found state workers in Illinois are already the highest-paid of any state government workers in the nation, when adjusted for cost-of-living differences between states. They also receive costly benefits including heavily subsidized Cadillac health care coverage and free health care insurance during retirement. 

The Institute’s new report “A comprehensive review of the most absurd benefits in the AFSCME collective bargaining agreement” can be viewed online here: http://illin.is/AFSCMEcontract. 

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