AFSCME promised to play nice at the negotiating table with Gov. Rauner, but it never intended to keep that promise. The union is doing everything it can to muscle the state’s taxpayers into an outside arbitration process that will practically guarantee that AFSCME’s unreasonable demands are met.

The testimony of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees before the Illinois Labor Relations Board and the union’s refusal to compromise on any contract provisions reveal that AFSCME and Gov. Bruce Rauner have reached impasse.

AFSCME’s push for HB 580, which would allow a panel of unelected arbitrators to draft a binding contract between the state and the union, is the latest power play in AFSCME’s long and uncompromising battle for pay hikes and benefits that could cost Illinois taxpayers more than $3 billion.

Given AFSCME’s and the Rauner administration’s disagreement on core contract issues – such as wage freezes and merit pay – and the likely appeal of any impasse decision reached by the administrative law judge, a final determination on whether AFSCME and the Rauner administration have reached impasse will probably not come until well into the summer – or beyond.

A new report from the Heritage Foundation shows that in 2014 alone, collective bargaining between Illinois’ government-worker unions and Illinois officials inflated state and local government spending by $4 billion to $9 billion.