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Quinn takes on union over raises

By Kurt Erickson
The Southern Springfield Bureau

SPRINGFIELD - More than 30,000 unionized state employees could be stripped of the pay hikes they are due in the coming year.

Just a day after signing a budget for the new fiscal year, Gov. Pat Quinn said the move is unavoidable because the new spending plan does not provide enough money to pay raises to about two-thirds of the state's unionized workforce.

"If the state paid these increases, the impacted agencies would not be able to make payroll for the entire fiscal year, preventing them from continuing operations and providing core services to the people of Illinois," noted spokesman Grant Klinzman.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 pledged to fight the change court. The union represents about 90 percent of the workers, who are spread across 14 different state agencies.

"With his illegal and irresponsible actions today, Gov. Pat Quinn has trampled on the collective bargaining process and broken his contract with the men and women who do the real work of state government," said AFSCME Executive Director Henry Bayer. "Today Pat Quinn has shown that his signature on such negotiated agreements is not worth the paper it's printed on."

As part of a multi-year contract approved under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and then renegotiated by Quinn, unionized state workers like prison guards and state park workers were due to receive a 2 percent raise Friday, a 1.25 percent increase on Jan. 1 and another 2 percent on Feb. 1.

Personnel costs make up the lion's share of state spending, but more than 90 percent of state workers are in labor unions. Quinn has repeatedly said he was opposed to breaking the union contract.

Taking on the powerful union on the issue of wage increases could become a sticky political fight for both Quinn and lawmakers. The governor's budget chief has doled out double-digit raises to some employees, including a recent 47 percent boost to his spokeswoman. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate also have given raises to staffers in recent months.

Bayer made note of those raises in a prepared statement.

"He has acted unilaterally and in clear contravention of union contracts to void modest, negotiated increases for frontline state employees, despite handing out 25 and 50 percent raises to his own inner circle," he said.

State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said it won't help to call on lawmakers to return to the Capitol in order to earmark more money for raises.

"There is no more money. We just got done cutting somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 billion and the governor cut even more. The days of coming back and adding more money are over," Rose said.

In his statement, Bayer said Quinn shouldn't have earlier criticized governors in other states, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, for trying to limit collective bargaining rights.