By Jamey Dunn
Union leaders today publicly rejected a public pension reform outline that a special legislative committee is considering.
On Friday, the Capitol Fax blog and the Associated Press released details of a framework the bipartisan conference committee has been working on. The plan would toss out the 3 percent annual compounded cost-of-living adjustment retirees currently receive. Instead, cost-of-living adjustments would be half the rate of inflation. The rates would have a base level and cap set, but the outline obtained by the two outlets did not include those limits. The change would likely result in smaller COLAs for retirees.
Proposals in the past have called for retirees to contribute a larger portion of their paychecks to their retirement, but this concept would reduce the amount employees chip in by 1 percentage point. The retirement age would not change under the framework, but the way that retirement benefits are calculated might be changed to consider pay over several years of employment instead of the final typically higher-paid years. The changes in the outline are estimated to reduce the almost $100 billion unfunded pension liability by $18.1 billion and save the state $145 billion over 30 years.
The decreased contribution from employees would likely be used as consideration for reductions in benefits elsewhere. Several lawmakers believe that the state Constitution requires any cut in retiree benefits to come as part of a trade for something of value. However, there has been broad disagreement in the past on how consideration would be achieved and whether it is even necessary to cut future benefits that employees have not yet earned.
Union officials do not believe that the new plan would meet constitutional requirements. “Published reports suggest the legislative conference committee on pension reform is ready to rehash the same unfair, unconstitutional attacks on retirement security,” said a statement from the We Are Once Coalition. “Teachers, police, nurses, caregivers and hundreds of thousands more working and retired public servants earned their pension, never missed a payment, and in most cases aren’t eligible for Social Security. They deserve better from the conferees. So does the Illinois Constitution, which lawmakers are sworn to uphold and which provisions of the committee’s outline would directly violate.” The statement calls for lawmakers to reconsider the union-backed Senate Bill 2404. Senate President John Cullerton sponsored that bill, which was approved in by the Senate. But House Speaker Michael Madigan refused to call the bill for a vote because he said it did not save enough money. Supporters of SB 2404 said it could have easily passed in the House if called for a vote. The union support of the bill definitely helped to bolster its popularity among lawmakers.
Committee members have been saying for weeks that they are making progress toward a proposal for changes to the public employees' pension systems. However, they say the outline obtained by members of the press is not necessarily their final proposal. “The committee has not come to a consensus,” Committee chair Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, told the AP. “Our work is not done.”
Showing posts with label AFSCME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFSCME. Show all posts
Monday, August 26, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
House passes the bulk of its budget
By Jamey Dunn and Meredith Colias
Illinois House Democrats passed several pieces of their budget today as Republicans bemoaned being cut out of the process.
Both higher education and K-12 will be funded at essentially flat levels, compared to the current fiscal year. Human services would see cuts under the plan, but the outlook is not nearly as gloomy as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Sponsors of the various budget bills say that the situation would have been much bleaker if a windfall of $1.5 billion in unexpected revenues had not come in. “In April, there was a large surge because people sold a bunch of assets at the end of [Fiscal Year] '12 in anticipation of capital gains rate changes,” said Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored the human services budget bill.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said Republicans do not support the $35.6 billion budget proposal, the bulk of which passed today. He said Republicans had been working on the budget, but Democrats stopped inviting his political party to talks in the last few weeks. “When it comes to spending ... the willingness to work with us goes by the wayside, and that is unfortunate,” Cross said. “Clearly we’re not going in the direction that we need to go if we intend to get our bills paid and if we intend to do away with the tax increase.” Republicans said they saw the budget bills for the first time last night.
While Republicans blasted the spending in the proposal, Harris, who took over the human services budgeting committee this year, said this is the first budget in recent years that will fully fund human services. “We’ve made cuts across the board but we’ve retained funding in core community services such as mental health, substance abuse, homelessness programs,” he said. This year and several other times in recent history, human services agencies have had to come back to the General Assembly midway through the fiscal year and ask for more money to avoid the shutdown of programs. “In other years, they’ve not appropriated for a full year, and they’ve always come back for [supplemental spending bills]. ... We wanted to pass something that was fully reflective of the realities of each department’s need,” he said. “I would say woe betide the department that comes back to us with a supplemental [request] this year.”
The budget does not explicitly include the raises promised to state union workers in a new contract. But personnel costs are provided in lump sums, and each agency is left to figure out how to work in the raises. “What we accounted for was their FY 14 raises, and they way we did that was to give our departments maximum flexibility.” A bill that would appropriate back raises, which Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will now give members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union after earlier freezing them, was not called for a vote in committee today.
Some of the unexpected revenue would be used to immediately pay down nearly $600 million in old human services bills. Harris said many of those payments would be eligible for federal matching funds under Medicaid. Some of the additional revenues were incorporated to the revenue estimate for next fiscal year and will be used to defer cuts to education and corrections. Republicans expressed concerns that the additional revenue projected should not automatically be used to increase spending in the budget. “We were conservative a year ago, and it served us well,” Arlington Heights Republican David Harris said.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Louis Arroyo said that the additional money allowed Democrats to funnel $70 million to the Department of Corrections to prevent the potential closure of more state prisons. “I believe there will be no prisons closing,” Arroyo said in a budget committee hearing this morning. “Corrections is going to be OK.” The House approved a public safety budget sponsored by Arroyo today. Higher education is seeing only a slight drop in funding.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin said that higher education would avoid the 5 percent cuts the governor called for in his March budget proposal. The extra funds would give "additional breathing room for some of our communities," Dunkin said. The House higher education budget, which was also approved today, calls for the Monetary Award Program, which provides scholarships to low-income students, to be funded at a level slightly less than what Quinn presented in his budget. The program has suffered cuts in recent years.
The House did not approve its K-12 budget, but House Democrats who worked on it say a vote is expected tomorrow. The proposal adds more than $150 million to General State Aid for schools to keep the state's proration at 89 percent of the recommended funding level to schools. The bus transportation budget will be kept at 64 percent of recommended levels for schools. The new budget figures will also keep early childhood education and bilingual education at flat funding, compared to last year's budget.
Illinois House Democrats passed several pieces of their budget today as Republicans bemoaned being cut out of the process.
Both higher education and K-12 will be funded at essentially flat levels, compared to the current fiscal year. Human services would see cuts under the plan, but the outlook is not nearly as gloomy as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Sponsors of the various budget bills say that the situation would have been much bleaker if a windfall of $1.5 billion in unexpected revenues had not come in. “In April, there was a large surge because people sold a bunch of assets at the end of [Fiscal Year] '12 in anticipation of capital gains rate changes,” said Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored the human services budget bill.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said Republicans do not support the $35.6 billion budget proposal, the bulk of which passed today. He said Republicans had been working on the budget, but Democrats stopped inviting his political party to talks in the last few weeks. “When it comes to spending ... the willingness to work with us goes by the wayside, and that is unfortunate,” Cross said. “Clearly we’re not going in the direction that we need to go if we intend to get our bills paid and if we intend to do away with the tax increase.” Republicans said they saw the budget bills for the first time last night.
While Republicans blasted the spending in the proposal, Harris, who took over the human services budgeting committee this year, said this is the first budget in recent years that will fully fund human services. “We’ve made cuts across the board but we’ve retained funding in core community services such as mental health, substance abuse, homelessness programs,” he said. This year and several other times in recent history, human services agencies have had to come back to the General Assembly midway through the fiscal year and ask for more money to avoid the shutdown of programs. “In other years, they’ve not appropriated for a full year, and they’ve always come back for [supplemental spending bills]. ... We wanted to pass something that was fully reflective of the realities of each department’s need,” he said. “I would say woe betide the department that comes back to us with a supplemental [request] this year.”
The budget does not explicitly include the raises promised to state union workers in a new contract. But personnel costs are provided in lump sums, and each agency is left to figure out how to work in the raises. “What we accounted for was their FY 14 raises, and they way we did that was to give our departments maximum flexibility.” A bill that would appropriate back raises, which Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will now give members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union after earlier freezing them, was not called for a vote in committee today.
Some of the unexpected revenue would be used to immediately pay down nearly $600 million in old human services bills. Harris said many of those payments would be eligible for federal matching funds under Medicaid. Some of the additional revenues were incorporated to the revenue estimate for next fiscal year and will be used to defer cuts to education and corrections. Republicans expressed concerns that the additional revenue projected should not automatically be used to increase spending in the budget. “We were conservative a year ago, and it served us well,” Arlington Heights Republican David Harris said.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Louis Arroyo said that the additional money allowed Democrats to funnel $70 million to the Department of Corrections to prevent the potential closure of more state prisons. “I believe there will be no prisons closing,” Arroyo said in a budget committee hearing this morning. “Corrections is going to be OK.” The House approved a public safety budget sponsored by Arroyo today. Higher education is seeing only a slight drop in funding.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin said that higher education would avoid the 5 percent cuts the governor called for in his March budget proposal. The extra funds would give "additional breathing room for some of our communities," Dunkin said. The House higher education budget, which was also approved today, calls for the Monetary Award Program, which provides scholarships to low-income students, to be funded at a level slightly less than what Quinn presented in his budget. The program has suffered cuts in recent years.
The House did not approve its K-12 budget, but House Democrats who worked on it say a vote is expected tomorrow. The proposal adds more than $150 million to General State Aid for schools to keep the state's proration at 89 percent of the recommended funding level to schools. The bus transportation budget will be kept at 64 percent of recommended levels for schools. The new budget figures will also keep early childhood education and bilingual education at flat funding, compared to last year's budget.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
House passes bill to cut COLAs on public pensions
By Jamey Dunn
Supporters of efforts to cut spending on public-employee pensions say they reached a turning point today, as the House approved reductions to cost-of-living increases for current and future retirees.
“The meat and potatoes of pension reform happened today,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said after today’s vote. “And I think this was the toughest vote people are going to face.” Lawmakers approved House Bill 1165 on a vote of 66 to 50. The measure would cap the amount of salary on which retirees could earn the compounded 3 percent cost of living adjustment [COLA] at $25,000. Anyone earning more pension income would receive a flat COLA of $750 annually. Under the bill, retirees would not be eligible for a COLA until they have been retired for five years or they reach age 67, whichever comes first. The bill also would apply to current retirees who are now receiving COLAs.
“I know that this is a very difficult thing to do to retirees ... but unfortunately, we have let the problem get so big that that has to be the nature of the solution that we’re looking to,” said sponsor Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. The current COLAs are by far the costliest component of the pension plans. Nekrtiz and Cross said that they must be targeted to make a real dent in the $96 billion unfunded liability.
House Speaker Michael Madigan said today’s vote signals that the House is very close to a vote on a final comprehensive pension reform bill. “I think we’re in a position to finalize the preparation of the bill and then move a bill from the House to the Senate that treats all aspects of the problem.”
Opponents to HB 1165 say it is an unconstitutional reduction in employee benefits and unfair to retirees who planned their finances around the benefits they were promised when they left their jobs. “What’s not fair to do is to go to them and say, 'You have to make up the entire liability,' when over half the liability is because the state of Illinois never made its payments,” said Rep. David Reis, a Willow Hill Republican. He said lawmakers should instead accept a union coalition offer for employees to pay a larger percentage of their wages toward their pensions. “There are other avenues out there that have been negotiated with the various unions that may prevent a lawsuit, that I think would help us accomplish what we’re trying to do.”
Earlier this month, the House approved House Bill 1154, which would cap pensionable salary at the Social Security wage base, which is $113,700 in 2013, or the employee's current salary, whichever is greater. The same day, the chamber voted in favor of HB 1166, which would increase the retirement age for employees younger than 46. Employees from 40 to 45 would see a one-year increase, employees 35 to 39 would see a three-year increase and employees 34 and younger would see a five-year increase. All three bills are key pieces of HB 3411, the “comprehensive plan” pushed by Cross and Nekrtiz, and are now in the Senate. “We all recognize the enormity of this problem. The significance of the problem is not the issue. The issue is, how do we react to the problem? How do we move legislation that will solve the problem and do it in such a way that we have a reasonable chance of approval from the Illinois court system?” Madigan said on the House floor today. “We’ve taken three significant steps in a process to solve the problem.”
Cross and Nekritz both agree that a final package could contain tweaks and additional provisions. Their bill has a provision meant to ensure that the state would make its annual required payment and calls for money now going to pay off pension bonds to be used to pay down the unfunded liability after the bonds have matured. It would also require employees to pay 2 percent more of their salaries toward their retirement benefits. Both lawmakers agree that any of those proposals may end up in a final bill. “We’ve now passed the most challenging parts of the bill, in many ways, so putting together a comprehensive package from here, when you are talking about the funding guarantee and additional money going into the pension systems, those are things that are hardly controversial.” Cross said he is still not thrilled with the approach that the House took, voting on each part separately. And he said he does not know how he stands on any potential final bill until he sees what is in it. He said he would like it to be as close to complete as possible. “I’m not happy with the process. I’d like to see something in a more comprehensive package.”
While leaders of both parties in the House say the chamber made significant progress today, the Senate rejected a comprehensive proposal on Wednesday. Senate Bill 34, which is similar to HB 3411, fell seven votes shy of the majority needed to pass. The chamber instead approved a much narrower bill that would only apply to teachers. Senate President John Cullerton said that the measure was just part of an overall reform package he plans to present in the Senate. “The work of building a coalition of 30 votes is going to require more heavy lifting. I'm committed to this goal and look forward to passing a full reform plan this session,” he said in a prepared statement.
Cross said the House vote today may shake things up in the other chamber. “I think any time that one chamber passes something of this significance, it changes the dynamic,” he said. “I would like to think that the Senate would take another shot. They can certainly do just this bill.”
Gov. Pat Quinn said he plans to work with both chambers to try to get a bill to his desk. “I’m encouraged by the positive steps recently taken by the Illinois General Assembly toward comprehensive pension reform. In the past few weeks, the Illinois House has passed three pension reform bills, culminating with today’s major cost-saving measure, which reforms the cost-of-living-adjustment factor,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “In addition, yesterday’s votes in the Illinois Senate indicate that there is support for pension reform. There's much more work to do, but I’m pleased to see progress being made. I will continue working with the leaders and members of both houses and both parties to get comprehensive pension reform legislation on my desk so that I can sign it into law.”
Union leaders said they would continue to fight against the changes, which they say violate the state's Constitution.“We remain opposed to measures passed by the House and Senate this week. We will continue to advocate for coalition-supported solutions that have been negotiated with the unions who represent those affected by pension changes," said a statement from the We Are One Coalition.
Supporters of efforts to cut spending on public-employee pensions say they reached a turning point today, as the House approved reductions to cost-of-living increases for current and future retirees.
“The meat and potatoes of pension reform happened today,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said after today’s vote. “And I think this was the toughest vote people are going to face.” Lawmakers approved House Bill 1165 on a vote of 66 to 50. The measure would cap the amount of salary on which retirees could earn the compounded 3 percent cost of living adjustment [COLA] at $25,000. Anyone earning more pension income would receive a flat COLA of $750 annually. Under the bill, retirees would not be eligible for a COLA until they have been retired for five years or they reach age 67, whichever comes first. The bill also would apply to current retirees who are now receiving COLAs.
“I know that this is a very difficult thing to do to retirees ... but unfortunately, we have let the problem get so big that that has to be the nature of the solution that we’re looking to,” said sponsor Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. The current COLAs are by far the costliest component of the pension plans. Nekrtiz and Cross said that they must be targeted to make a real dent in the $96 billion unfunded liability.
House Speaker Michael Madigan said today’s vote signals that the House is very close to a vote on a final comprehensive pension reform bill. “I think we’re in a position to finalize the preparation of the bill and then move a bill from the House to the Senate that treats all aspects of the problem.”
Opponents to HB 1165 say it is an unconstitutional reduction in employee benefits and unfair to retirees who planned their finances around the benefits they were promised when they left their jobs. “What’s not fair to do is to go to them and say, 'You have to make up the entire liability,' when over half the liability is because the state of Illinois never made its payments,” said Rep. David Reis, a Willow Hill Republican. He said lawmakers should instead accept a union coalition offer for employees to pay a larger percentage of their wages toward their pensions. “There are other avenues out there that have been negotiated with the various unions that may prevent a lawsuit, that I think would help us accomplish what we’re trying to do.”
Earlier this month, the House approved House Bill 1154, which would cap pensionable salary at the Social Security wage base, which is $113,700 in 2013, or the employee's current salary, whichever is greater. The same day, the chamber voted in favor of HB 1166, which would increase the retirement age for employees younger than 46. Employees from 40 to 45 would see a one-year increase, employees 35 to 39 would see a three-year increase and employees 34 and younger would see a five-year increase. All three bills are key pieces of HB 3411, the “comprehensive plan” pushed by Cross and Nekrtiz, and are now in the Senate. “We all recognize the enormity of this problem. The significance of the problem is not the issue. The issue is, how do we react to the problem? How do we move legislation that will solve the problem and do it in such a way that we have a reasonable chance of approval from the Illinois court system?” Madigan said on the House floor today. “We’ve taken three significant steps in a process to solve the problem.”
Cross and Nekritz both agree that a final package could contain tweaks and additional provisions. Their bill has a provision meant to ensure that the state would make its annual required payment and calls for money now going to pay off pension bonds to be used to pay down the unfunded liability after the bonds have matured. It would also require employees to pay 2 percent more of their salaries toward their retirement benefits. Both lawmakers agree that any of those proposals may end up in a final bill. “We’ve now passed the most challenging parts of the bill, in many ways, so putting together a comprehensive package from here, when you are talking about the funding guarantee and additional money going into the pension systems, those are things that are hardly controversial.” Cross said he is still not thrilled with the approach that the House took, voting on each part separately. And he said he does not know how he stands on any potential final bill until he sees what is in it. He said he would like it to be as close to complete as possible. “I’m not happy with the process. I’d like to see something in a more comprehensive package.”
While leaders of both parties in the House say the chamber made significant progress today, the Senate rejected a comprehensive proposal on Wednesday. Senate Bill 34, which is similar to HB 3411, fell seven votes shy of the majority needed to pass. The chamber instead approved a much narrower bill that would only apply to teachers. Senate President John Cullerton said that the measure was just part of an overall reform package he plans to present in the Senate. “The work of building a coalition of 30 votes is going to require more heavy lifting. I'm committed to this goal and look forward to passing a full reform plan this session,” he said in a prepared statement.
Cross said the House vote today may shake things up in the other chamber. “I think any time that one chamber passes something of this significance, it changes the dynamic,” he said. “I would like to think that the Senate would take another shot. They can certainly do just this bill.”
Gov. Pat Quinn said he plans to work with both chambers to try to get a bill to his desk. “I’m encouraged by the positive steps recently taken by the Illinois General Assembly toward comprehensive pension reform. In the past few weeks, the Illinois House has passed three pension reform bills, culminating with today’s major cost-saving measure, which reforms the cost-of-living-adjustment factor,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “In addition, yesterday’s votes in the Illinois Senate indicate that there is support for pension reform. There's much more work to do, but I’m pleased to see progress being made. I will continue working with the leaders and members of both houses and both parties to get comprehensive pension reform legislation on my desk so that I can sign it into law.”
Union leaders said they would continue to fight against the changes, which they say violate the state's Constitution.“We remain opposed to measures passed by the House and Senate this week. We will continue to advocate for coalition-supported solutions that have been negotiated with the unions who represent those affected by pension changes," said a statement from the We Are One Coalition.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Court tosses out lawsuit over public retirees' health care
Jamey Dunn
A judge today sided with the state in a disputed over the cost of public retiree health insurance.
Last year, lawmakers approved and Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure to allow the state to begin charging retired workers premiums for their health care. Many retired state workers and university employees do not pay premiums if they worked for more than 20 years. Those retirees are required to pay for coverage for family members, along with co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs.
State workers sued, arguing that their retiree health benefits were protected, much like pension benefits, by the Illinois Constitution. But Sangamon County Circuit Court Associate Judge Steven Nardulli dismissed their complaints today. “The Pension Code and the [The State Employee Group Insurance Act] are structurally separate and substantially different. They are separately administered and separately funded. They provide benefits that are fundamentally different,” said the ruling. (link via Capitol Fax) “The cost of health insurance premiums are not fixed at the time of retirement and are paid from the General Revenue Fund, as opposed to fixed benefits paid from a protected fund. The fact that there is an indirect or incidental impact on pensions because of the enactment and amendment of the SEIGA does not make the benefits under the SEIGA pensions in nature.”
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration said retirees should expect to start paying premiums after July 1. “I am pleased with the court’s action today to uphold this important law. This is good news for the taxpayers and another step forward in our effort to restore fiscal stability to Illinois,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.
Senate President John Cullerton said the ruling makes his proposal to change the state’s pension systems seem like a legal possibility. Cullerton supports a proposal that would force employees to choose between their compounded-interest cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) or access to a retiree health care plan. Employees who opted to keep their COLAs would have their pensionable salaries frozen, so no future raises could be considered for benefits. He argues that employees must be given something in exchange for a reduction in pension benefits, and access to the health care plan would be the trade. “The real impact of this ruling is that it reinforces my position that a guarantee of health care access can be negotiated as part of a contractual change to protected pension benefits. Only the benefits found in the Illinois Pension Code are protected by the Pension Clause,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement. “Pension reform is my top priority. While I acknowledge that there are a number of ways to structure a bill, I believe that a reform based on contractual principles of offer, consideration and acceptance is the best way to ensure that the legislation is upheld in court. I will continue to advocate that giving state employees and retirees a choice between cost-of-living allowances and access to health care is the best way forward.”
Union officials say Cullerton’s plan presents a coercive choice and does not offer employees something of value in exchange for benefit cuts.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 backed a class action suit in Randolph County that was rolled into today's ruling. “We are greatly disappointed by today’s decision,” AFSCME Executive Director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement. “We continue to believe this law impairs the rights of men and women who retired after careers with state government or state universities to obtain health insurance coverage according to the terms in place when they retired. It also violates the constitutional clause that prevents the diminishment of retirement benefits earned by public employees. We intend to consult with the plaintiffs and our union partners about our options going forward.”
AFSCME also announced today that its members ratified a new three-year contract with the state. A tentative agreement was reached last month, after more than a year of negotiations. Under the deal, employees will receive back pay from raises that Quinn previously froze. They will take a pay freeze for the current fiscal year but would see 2 percent increases in the last two years of the contract. Workers also agreed to pay higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles for their health care. Quinn estimates that the move will save the state about $900 million in employee health care costs over the life of the contract. “This new contract takes into account the state’s fiscal challenges, while also recognizing the vitally important work state employees do,” Bayer said.
A judge today sided with the state in a disputed over the cost of public retiree health insurance.
Last year, lawmakers approved and Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure to allow the state to begin charging retired workers premiums for their health care. Many retired state workers and university employees do not pay premiums if they worked for more than 20 years. Those retirees are required to pay for coverage for family members, along with co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs.
State workers sued, arguing that their retiree health benefits were protected, much like pension benefits, by the Illinois Constitution. But Sangamon County Circuit Court Associate Judge Steven Nardulli dismissed their complaints today. “The Pension Code and the [The State Employee Group Insurance Act] are structurally separate and substantially different. They are separately administered and separately funded. They provide benefits that are fundamentally different,” said the ruling. (link via Capitol Fax) “The cost of health insurance premiums are not fixed at the time of retirement and are paid from the General Revenue Fund, as opposed to fixed benefits paid from a protected fund. The fact that there is an indirect or incidental impact on pensions because of the enactment and amendment of the SEIGA does not make the benefits under the SEIGA pensions in nature.”
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration said retirees should expect to start paying premiums after July 1. “I am pleased with the court’s action today to uphold this important law. This is good news for the taxpayers and another step forward in our effort to restore fiscal stability to Illinois,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.
Senate President John Cullerton said the ruling makes his proposal to change the state’s pension systems seem like a legal possibility. Cullerton supports a proposal that would force employees to choose between their compounded-interest cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) or access to a retiree health care plan. Employees who opted to keep their COLAs would have their pensionable salaries frozen, so no future raises could be considered for benefits. He argues that employees must be given something in exchange for a reduction in pension benefits, and access to the health care plan would be the trade. “The real impact of this ruling is that it reinforces my position that a guarantee of health care access can be negotiated as part of a contractual change to protected pension benefits. Only the benefits found in the Illinois Pension Code are protected by the Pension Clause,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement. “Pension reform is my top priority. While I acknowledge that there are a number of ways to structure a bill, I believe that a reform based on contractual principles of offer, consideration and acceptance is the best way to ensure that the legislation is upheld in court. I will continue to advocate that giving state employees and retirees a choice between cost-of-living allowances and access to health care is the best way forward.”
Union officials say Cullerton’s plan presents a coercive choice and does not offer employees something of value in exchange for benefit cuts.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 backed a class action suit in Randolph County that was rolled into today's ruling. “We are greatly disappointed by today’s decision,” AFSCME Executive Director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement. “We continue to believe this law impairs the rights of men and women who retired after careers with state government or state universities to obtain health insurance coverage according to the terms in place when they retired. It also violates the constitutional clause that prevents the diminishment of retirement benefits earned by public employees. We intend to consult with the plaintiffs and our union partners about our options going forward.”
AFSCME also announced today that its members ratified a new three-year contract with the state. A tentative agreement was reached last month, after more than a year of negotiations. Under the deal, employees will receive back pay from raises that Quinn previously froze. They will take a pay freeze for the current fiscal year but would see 2 percent increases in the last two years of the contract. Workers also agreed to pay higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles for their health care. Quinn estimates that the move will save the state about $900 million in employee health care costs over the life of the contract. “This new contract takes into account the state’s fiscal challenges, while also recognizing the vitally important work state employees do,” Bayer said.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
State and union leaders reach deal on new contract
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and the state’s largest public employee union have reached a tentative deal on a new contract for state workers.
Negotiations over a new contract stretched on for more than 15 months. The state’s contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 expired last June. The contract was extended until November, when Quinn refused to extend it further. Employees have been working without a contract since then.
The union and Quinn’s administration announced the deal for three-year contract today, but AFSCME said it does not plan to make the details public until the union’s members have a chance to review the agreement. “At a time when the state is facing unprecedented financial challenges, this agreement is fair to both hard-working state employees and all taxpayers of Illinois,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “I want to thank the women and men who have stayed at the table for more than a year for their commitment to reaching an agreement.”
Union members still have to approve the new contract. According to a news release from AFSCME, the ratification process will start at work sites next week. “AFSCME is very pleased that we were able to reach an agreement that protects our members’ standard of living, and is fair to them and all Illinois citizens, even in these very challenging economic times,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement.
Negotiations over a new contract stretched on for more than 15 months. The state’s contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 expired last June. The contract was extended until November, when Quinn refused to extend it further. Employees have been working without a contract since then.
The union and Quinn’s administration announced the deal for three-year contract today, but AFSCME said it does not plan to make the details public until the union’s members have a chance to review the agreement. “At a time when the state is facing unprecedented financial challenges, this agreement is fair to both hard-working state employees and all taxpayers of Illinois,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “I want to thank the women and men who have stayed at the table for more than a year for their commitment to reaching an agreement.”
Union members still have to approve the new contract. According to a news release from AFSCME, the ratification process will start at work sites next week. “AFSCME is very pleased that we were able to reach an agreement that protects our members’ standard of living, and is fair to them and all Illinois citizens, even in these very challenging economic times,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Quinn says public safety is his top priority for concealed carry law
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn said any concealed carry bill in Illinois would have to contain safety restrictions to get his approval.
“The court did say for the reasons of public safety that reasonable limitations can be applied...and I think it’s important that we stress that. Public safety comes first,” Quinn told reporters in Chicago today.
After a federal court ordered the General Assembly yesterday to approve a concealed carry law within 180 days, supporters said they would not be as willing to compromise on a more restrictive bill. “We just wanted them to work with us in the past, and they never wanted to,” Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Harrisburg Democrat, said of those who did not back his concealed carry legislation. After Quinn stated publicly that he would veto the bill, Phelps’ bill legislation did not get enough votes to pass when it was called on the House last year. His proposal required training for a concealed carry permit and put limits on where guns would be allowed. But now that a court has signed off on concealed carry, Phelps and others say they will likely present a less restrictive plan. “You can’t argue with the courts,” he said.
Quinn did not get specific on what he wants to see in a bill, but he said public safety is his priority. “We’re going to take a look at everything: not only bills that have been introduced in Illinois, but the laws that exist in other states. We want to get the very best law that protects public safety. That’s where I’m coming from, and I’m going to insist on that, and,frankly, you don’t have a law until you have the governor’s signature.” Quinn said it is up to Attorney General Lisa Madigan to decide whether to appeal the ruling. “I’ll trust her judgment.”
The governor used the news of the ruling to again call for the ban of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips in Illinois “We are not going to have people marching along Michigan Avenue or any other avenue in the state of Illinois with military style assault weapons, weapons that are designed to kill people,” Quinn said today. During the veto session, the legislature overturned a veto that Quinn used to tack such a ban onto another bill. After that vote, he said he planned to back such a proposal through the legislative process.
Quinn commented on another court ruling today. The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday lifted a court order that had been preventing the governor to move ahead on a plan to close several Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. “I’m happy the court ruled in our favor, and now we’ll carry out what the court told us.”
While the Senate voted to override Quinn’s vetoes of the money for the facilities, the House let the vetoes stand. Quinn used his veto pen to remove $19.4 million for the super-maximum security prison near Tamms and $21.2 million for the women’s prison in Dwight from the budget passed by lawmakers in the spring session. In addition to the prisons, he plans to close three transition centers meant to help inmates re-enter society. He also cut $8.9 million for a youth prison in Joliet and $6.6 million for a youth prison in Murphysboro. Quinn said without the money to fund them, the facilities cannot remain open. “We’ll follow the proper legal process in order to go through the court system, but the bottom line is last week the Illinois General Assembly did not override my veto, I vetoed money for these prisons and other facilities,” Quinn said today.
But the Quinn administration has not released a timeline for the closures and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 plans to continue its appeal, which is pending in a lower court. “AFSCME members are extremely disappointed in this ruling. The injunction is vital to upholding the union’s right to seek judicial review of an arbitrator’s findings on crucial health and safety concerns. Nonetheless, we intend to vigorously pursue that appeal. This ruling doesn’t change the fact that closing any prison will worsen severe overcrowding throughout the correctional system, making the remaining prisons more dangerous for employees, inmates and ultimately the public,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, said in a written statement.
Gov. Pat Quinn said any concealed carry bill in Illinois would have to contain safety restrictions to get his approval.
“The court did say for the reasons of public safety that reasonable limitations can be applied...and I think it’s important that we stress that. Public safety comes first,” Quinn told reporters in Chicago today.
After a federal court ordered the General Assembly yesterday to approve a concealed carry law within 180 days, supporters said they would not be as willing to compromise on a more restrictive bill. “We just wanted them to work with us in the past, and they never wanted to,” Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Harrisburg Democrat, said of those who did not back his concealed carry legislation. After Quinn stated publicly that he would veto the bill, Phelps’ bill legislation did not get enough votes to pass when it was called on the House last year. His proposal required training for a concealed carry permit and put limits on where guns would be allowed. But now that a court has signed off on concealed carry, Phelps and others say they will likely present a less restrictive plan. “You can’t argue with the courts,” he said.
Quinn did not get specific on what he wants to see in a bill, but he said public safety is his priority. “We’re going to take a look at everything: not only bills that have been introduced in Illinois, but the laws that exist in other states. We want to get the very best law that protects public safety. That’s where I’m coming from, and I’m going to insist on that, and,frankly, you don’t have a law until you have the governor’s signature.” Quinn said it is up to Attorney General Lisa Madigan to decide whether to appeal the ruling. “I’ll trust her judgment.”
The governor used the news of the ruling to again call for the ban of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips in Illinois “We are not going to have people marching along Michigan Avenue or any other avenue in the state of Illinois with military style assault weapons, weapons that are designed to kill people,” Quinn said today. During the veto session, the legislature overturned a veto that Quinn used to tack such a ban onto another bill. After that vote, he said he planned to back such a proposal through the legislative process.
Quinn commented on another court ruling today. The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday lifted a court order that had been preventing the governor to move ahead on a plan to close several Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. “I’m happy the court ruled in our favor, and now we’ll carry out what the court told us.”
While the Senate voted to override Quinn’s vetoes of the money for the facilities, the House let the vetoes stand. Quinn used his veto pen to remove $19.4 million for the super-maximum security prison near Tamms and $21.2 million for the women’s prison in Dwight from the budget passed by lawmakers in the spring session. In addition to the prisons, he plans to close three transition centers meant to help inmates re-enter society. He also cut $8.9 million for a youth prison in Joliet and $6.6 million for a youth prison in Murphysboro. Quinn said without the money to fund them, the facilities cannot remain open. “We’ll follow the proper legal process in order to go through the court system, but the bottom line is last week the Illinois General Assembly did not override my veto, I vetoed money for these prisons and other facilities,” Quinn said today.
But the Quinn administration has not released a timeline for the closures and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 plans to continue its appeal, which is pending in a lower court. “AFSCME members are extremely disappointed in this ruling. The injunction is vital to upholding the union’s right to seek judicial review of an arbitrator’s findings on crucial health and safety concerns. Nonetheless, we intend to vigorously pursue that appeal. This ruling doesn’t change the fact that closing any prison will worsen severe overcrowding throughout the correctional system, making the remaining prisons more dangerous for employees, inmates and ultimately the public,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, said in a written statement.
Friday, December 07, 2012
Judge sides with state unions on pay increase
By Jamey Dunn
A judge has ruled that Gov. Pat Quinn must pay the contractual raises he denied to state employees, but the governor plans to appeal the decision.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Billik ordered Quinn to pay the raises that approximately 30, 000 state employees have been waiting for since July 2011.
"This ruling is a strong affirmation of the union's clear and simple position: Employees must be paid the wages they are owed, and a contract cannot be unilaterally discarded," Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement.
Quinn said he could not give the raises because the General Assembly did not include the money in the budget. However, more than 1,700 employees at the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Criminal Justice Information Authority received the pay increase in August. Quinn’s administration said both agencies had enough funding to afford the pay increases because of smaller-than-expected personnel costs.
“The Illinois General Assembly did not appropriate money for raises in its Fiscal Year '12 budget. As the governor has said repeatedly, the state cannot pay money it does not have the appropriation authority to spend. We will immediately appeal this ruling,” said a statement from Quinn’s budget office.
But the union called on Quinn to let the ruling stand. "Gov. Quinn has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars with the goal of preventing middle-class public employees from being paid according to their contract and the law. We urge the governor to end his wasteful court battle and move forward to pay employees who have waited far too long,” Bayer said.
A judge has ruled that Gov. Pat Quinn must pay the contractual raises he denied to state employees, but the governor plans to appeal the decision.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Billik ordered Quinn to pay the raises that approximately 30, 000 state employees have been waiting for since July 2011.
"This ruling is a strong affirmation of the union's clear and simple position: Employees must be paid the wages they are owed, and a contract cannot be unilaterally discarded," Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement.
Quinn said he could not give the raises because the General Assembly did not include the money in the budget. However, more than 1,700 employees at the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Criminal Justice Information Authority received the pay increase in August. Quinn’s administration said both agencies had enough funding to afford the pay increases because of smaller-than-expected personnel costs.
“The Illinois General Assembly did not appropriate money for raises in its Fiscal Year '12 budget. As the governor has said repeatedly, the state cannot pay money it does not have the appropriation authority to spend. We will immediately appeal this ruling,” said a statement from Quinn’s budget office.
But the union called on Quinn to let the ruling stand. "Gov. Quinn has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars with the goal of preventing middle-class public employees from being paid according to their contract and the law. We urge the governor to end his wasteful court battle and move forward to pay employees who have waited far too long,” Bayer said.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Lawmakers keep busy on the second day of veto session
By Jamey Dunn
During a busy veto session day today, lawmakers voted to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget vetoes, approved a bill that would require publicly traded corporations to share some tax information with the public and passed a resolution that could bar the way for pay raises for public employees.
Budget vetoes
The Senate voted to override some of Quinn’s changes to the budget they approved in the spring. Quinn signed the budget sent to him by the General Assembly, but he vetoed $19.4 million that was included to run the state’s only super-maximum security prison, located near Tamms, and the $21.2 million included to operate a women’s prison in Dwight. In addition to the prisons, he plans to close three transition centers meant to help inmates reenter society. Quinn also cut $8.9 million for a youth prison in Joliet and $6.6 million for a youth prison in Murphysboro. The chamber approved putting funding back for the corrections facilities.
“Our prison population is at an all-time high, our prisons are severely overcrowded and our staffing levels are down,” Sen. Gary Forby, who called for the override, said in a prepared statement. Tamms is located in Forby's district. “I hope that today’s Senate vote sends a clear message to the governor that he needs to stop fighting us on this issue. He needs to use these funds to manage the overcrowding of our prison system and ensure the safety of employees and inmates.”
The governor has been lobbying lawmakers to uphold his changes. “I had to make those vetoes in order to have money for the Department of Children and Family Services, and also because we can’t be spending millions of taxpayer’s dollars on prisons and juvenile justice camps that are half empty and in one case totally empty,” Quinn said. “The concept that we’re going to keep open Murphysboro, which is a juvenile justice camp, at a cost of millions of bucks and then take away money from neglected and abused children is I think really upside down. So I hope we prevail. We have two [chambers], and we’re going to fight hard in both places to uphold my decision.” The bill will now go over to the House.
Quinn is under no obligation to spend the money even if the General Assembly votes to restore it. However, he cannot spend the money elsewhere, such as on DCFS costs, without the approval of lawmakers.
DNR funding
After a failed attempt at the end of the spring legislative session to approve revenue to fund the state’s struggling Department of Natural Resources, the bill passed in the Senate today. Senate Bill 1566 would increase vehicle registration fees by $2, which would bring the cost of registration for a standard passenger vehicle to $101 annually. The proposal would also allow the DNR to charge out-of-state visitors park entrance fees and charge all visitors access fees for certain park features, such as beaches and horse trails. A previous plan of charging entrance fees for all park visitors was scrapped in lieu of the proposed increased vehicle registration fee. “If you live in Illinois and you have an Illinois plate, it’s open season. Go to any park you want to,” Hutchinson said of the plan the last time it was up for a vote. The measure has already passed in the House, and a Quinn spokesperson said the governor plans to sign the bill.
Republicans who opposed the bill said that the Quinn administration chose to underfund DNR and spend the money on other programs.
Corporate tax info
The Senate approved Senate Bill 282, which would require publicly traded corporations doing business in Illinois make some tax information public.
Senate President John Cullerton, who sponsors the bill, says that the measure is meant to help legislators make more informed tax policy decisions. “It’s not a gotcha to the business community. It’s actually something that helps us have a better tax structure.”
Under the proposal, corporations would submit tax information such as their incomes, tax liability and tax credits they receive to the secretary of state. The information would not be made available to the public until two years after the information is filed. At that time, it would be available to the public through a searchable online database.
Leaders of business organizations have balked at the idea of having to release information they say is private. “I think tax information is proprietary and confidential and should not be publicly released,” said Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers Association. “The reaction from the business community ... has been pretty reflexively negative,” said Palatine Republican Sen. Matt Murphy. He said that he recognizes that Cullerton is not trying to hurt businesses, but he said, “I think at its core it sends the wrong message.” Murphy called on Cullerton to compromise with businesses.
Cullerton said business groups have not come to him with any suggestions for compromise so far, but he said he hopes that might change. “Sometimes, people’s willingness to negotiate increases after it passes one chamber.” The bill has an influential House sponsor in Chicago Democratic Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and also has the support of Quinn.
Cullerton said he is open to changes being made to the bill in the House. “If there is some reason why some of these things that we’re asking to be disclosed should not be, and there’s a rational basis for that, I can take it out.”
State workers pay raises
The House approved a resolution stating that it will not include money for state employee pay raises in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, which takes effect in July. House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsors House Joint Resolution 45, said it is “a clear message from the House, to both the negotiators, both sides, that we don’t see room for salary increases. We just don’t see it.”
Quinn is currently negotiating a new contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Quinn said today that he told the union there is no money for raises under the new contract. “I honor the workers all the time. I have never said anything other than I really appreciate their public service. At the same time, if the state has these severe financial challenges, we’re all going to have to realize that that’s the reality and we’re not going to be able to have raises.” Union officials say the resolution undermines collective bargaining.
Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, said the union has offered to forgo pay increases in 2013 in exchange for concessions from the state. “In reality, state employees have voluntarily done more than anyone to help the state close its budget gap — agreeing in 2010 and 2011 to unpaid furlough days, wage deferrals, health plan changes and other concessions that saved the state more than $400 million, and offering in the current round of negotiations to accept no pay increase in 2013 as part of a comprehensive settlement,” Lindall said in prepared statement.
Assault weapons ban
The Senate also voted to override a veto that Quinn used to tack an assaults weapon to another bill.
SB681 would allow Illinois gun owners to purchase ammunition from in-state dealers through the mail. However, after a mass shooting in Colorado movie theater in July, Quinn used his veto pen to attach a ban on semi-automatic rifles, high-capacity magazines and .50-caliber guns onto the bill. Many lawmakers agreed that Quinn overstepped his authority by hijacking a bill that is at best tangentially related to the issue. “If the governor wants to do that, then he probably needs to find someone who introduces that bill and then we have a discussion about that bill,” said Okawville Republican David Luechtefeld, who sponsored SB 681. If the House also votes to override the veto, the underlying legislation would become law.
Quinn plans to keep pushing for a ban. “In the past six months, our nation experienced two violent shootings with an assault weapon in everyday settings: A gunman used a semi-automatic assault weapon to kill six worshipers at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Illinois also lost one of its own, Petty Officer 3rd Class John Larimer, in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre with an assault weapon that left 12 dead. As the governor has said, there is no place in Illinois for weapons designed to rapidly fire at human targets at close range,” Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Quinn, said in a prepared statement. “A statewide ban on assault weapons is good public safety policy, and we will vigorously pursue this cause.”
The House has canceled its session for tomorrow, but the Senate is scheduled to start its session at 10 a.m.
During a busy veto session day today, lawmakers voted to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget vetoes, approved a bill that would require publicly traded corporations to share some tax information with the public and passed a resolution that could bar the way for pay raises for public employees.
Budget vetoes
The Senate voted to override some of Quinn’s changes to the budget they approved in the spring. Quinn signed the budget sent to him by the General Assembly, but he vetoed $19.4 million that was included to run the state’s only super-maximum security prison, located near Tamms, and the $21.2 million included to operate a women’s prison in Dwight. In addition to the prisons, he plans to close three transition centers meant to help inmates reenter society. Quinn also cut $8.9 million for a youth prison in Joliet and $6.6 million for a youth prison in Murphysboro. The chamber approved putting funding back for the corrections facilities.
“Our prison population is at an all-time high, our prisons are severely overcrowded and our staffing levels are down,” Sen. Gary Forby, who called for the override, said in a prepared statement. Tamms is located in Forby's district. “I hope that today’s Senate vote sends a clear message to the governor that he needs to stop fighting us on this issue. He needs to use these funds to manage the overcrowding of our prison system and ensure the safety of employees and inmates.”
The governor has been lobbying lawmakers to uphold his changes. “I had to make those vetoes in order to have money for the Department of Children and Family Services, and also because we can’t be spending millions of taxpayer’s dollars on prisons and juvenile justice camps that are half empty and in one case totally empty,” Quinn said. “The concept that we’re going to keep open Murphysboro, which is a juvenile justice camp, at a cost of millions of bucks and then take away money from neglected and abused children is I think really upside down. So I hope we prevail. We have two [chambers], and we’re going to fight hard in both places to uphold my decision.” The bill will now go over to the House.
Quinn is under no obligation to spend the money even if the General Assembly votes to restore it. However, he cannot spend the money elsewhere, such as on DCFS costs, without the approval of lawmakers.
DNR funding
After a failed attempt at the end of the spring legislative session to approve revenue to fund the state’s struggling Department of Natural Resources, the bill passed in the Senate today. Senate Bill 1566 would increase vehicle registration fees by $2, which would bring the cost of registration for a standard passenger vehicle to $101 annually. The proposal would also allow the DNR to charge out-of-state visitors park entrance fees and charge all visitors access fees for certain park features, such as beaches and horse trails. A previous plan of charging entrance fees for all park visitors was scrapped in lieu of the proposed increased vehicle registration fee. “If you live in Illinois and you have an Illinois plate, it’s open season. Go to any park you want to,” Hutchinson said of the plan the last time it was up for a vote. The measure has already passed in the House, and a Quinn spokesperson said the governor plans to sign the bill.
Republicans who opposed the bill said that the Quinn administration chose to underfund DNR and spend the money on other programs.
Corporate tax info
The Senate approved Senate Bill 282, which would require publicly traded corporations doing business in Illinois make some tax information public.
Senate President John Cullerton, who sponsors the bill, says that the measure is meant to help legislators make more informed tax policy decisions. “It’s not a gotcha to the business community. It’s actually something that helps us have a better tax structure.”
Under the proposal, corporations would submit tax information such as their incomes, tax liability and tax credits they receive to the secretary of state. The information would not be made available to the public until two years after the information is filed. At that time, it would be available to the public through a searchable online database.
Leaders of business organizations have balked at the idea of having to release information they say is private. “I think tax information is proprietary and confidential and should not be publicly released,” said Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers Association. “The reaction from the business community ... has been pretty reflexively negative,” said Palatine Republican Sen. Matt Murphy. He said that he recognizes that Cullerton is not trying to hurt businesses, but he said, “I think at its core it sends the wrong message.” Murphy called on Cullerton to compromise with businesses.
Cullerton said business groups have not come to him with any suggestions for compromise so far, but he said he hopes that might change. “Sometimes, people’s willingness to negotiate increases after it passes one chamber.” The bill has an influential House sponsor in Chicago Democratic Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and also has the support of Quinn.
Cullerton said he is open to changes being made to the bill in the House. “If there is some reason why some of these things that we’re asking to be disclosed should not be, and there’s a rational basis for that, I can take it out.”
State workers pay raises
The House approved a resolution stating that it will not include money for state employee pay raises in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, which takes effect in July. House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsors House Joint Resolution 45, said it is “a clear message from the House, to both the negotiators, both sides, that we don’t see room for salary increases. We just don’t see it.”
Quinn is currently negotiating a new contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Quinn said today that he told the union there is no money for raises under the new contract. “I honor the workers all the time. I have never said anything other than I really appreciate their public service. At the same time, if the state has these severe financial challenges, we’re all going to have to realize that that’s the reality and we’re not going to be able to have raises.” Union officials say the resolution undermines collective bargaining.
Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, said the union has offered to forgo pay increases in 2013 in exchange for concessions from the state. “In reality, state employees have voluntarily done more than anyone to help the state close its budget gap — agreeing in 2010 and 2011 to unpaid furlough days, wage deferrals, health plan changes and other concessions that saved the state more than $400 million, and offering in the current round of negotiations to accept no pay increase in 2013 as part of a comprehensive settlement,” Lindall said in prepared statement.
Assault weapons ban
The Senate also voted to override a veto that Quinn used to tack an assaults weapon to another bill.
SB681 would allow Illinois gun owners to purchase ammunition from in-state dealers through the mail. However, after a mass shooting in Colorado movie theater in July, Quinn used his veto pen to attach a ban on semi-automatic rifles, high-capacity magazines and .50-caliber guns onto the bill. Many lawmakers agreed that Quinn overstepped his authority by hijacking a bill that is at best tangentially related to the issue. “If the governor wants to do that, then he probably needs to find someone who introduces that bill and then we have a discussion about that bill,” said Okawville Republican David Luechtefeld, who sponsored SB 681. If the House also votes to override the veto, the underlying legislation would become law.
Quinn plans to keep pushing for a ban. “In the past six months, our nation experienced two violent shootings with an assault weapon in everyday settings: A gunman used a semi-automatic assault weapon to kill six worshipers at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Illinois also lost one of its own, Petty Officer 3rd Class John Larimer, in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre with an assault weapon that left 12 dead. As the governor has said, there is no place in Illinois for weapons designed to rapidly fire at human targets at close range,” Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Quinn, said in a prepared statement. “A statewide ban on assault weapons is good public safety policy, and we will vigorously pursue this cause.”
The House has canceled its session for tomorrow, but the Senate is scheduled to start its session at 10 a.m.
Quinn: There is no money for pay raises
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn said today that Illinois does not have the money to give public workers raises under the contract their union is currently negotiating with the state.
“We’ve already told the union in the negotiations that there’s no money for raises,” Quinn said. He said he supports a House resolution that would urge lawmakers not to approve money for raises in the fiscal year 2013 budget. “It’s just common sense. The piggy bank is not there to be giving out raises. We have many bills to pay. We have this pension challenge, and so the notion that we would be giving out raises is not in the cards. And so it’s better for everybody, the executive branch and the legislative branch, to let the government employee union know what the facts are.”
“HJR 45 unnecessarily limits the rights of workers and undermines the state employee collective bargaining process that has worked without disruption in Illinois for 40 years,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement. “This resolution and continued false statements by the governor and his administration wrongly blame hard-working public servants for the state’s budget problems. Men and women who care for veterans and the disabled, protect children from abuse and keep our communities safe have earned middle-class wages, and Pat Quinn’s actions to terminate their union contract while trying to drive down their standard of living is an attack on the middle class.”
Lindall said the union has offered in negotiations with Quinn to forgo raises next year as part of a “comprehensive settlement.”
“We’re negotiating now,” Quinn said of the new contract. “I really hope we can come to a fair deal for everybody,” Quinn opted last week not to extend the union’s previous contract, which expired in June. However, workers are staying on the job without a contract, and the terms of the expired contract remain in place under state law.
Quinn also defended Squeezy the Pension Python, a character in an online video produced by the governor’s office to inform the public on growing pension costs. The cartoon snake has been mocked by some political commentators. Quinn said the character is a “creative” way to explain the issue to the average Facebook or Twitter user. “In the world of social media, you’re trying to connect to folks who maybe aren’t all that political. That’s maybe 98 percent of the people. They don’t live and breathe politics every day, and we’ve got to get beyond the sphere of just people on the inside. The issue of the pension reform really affects everybody, the amount of money we spend on our schools and our public safety and helping veterans, all of that is getting squeezed by this pension challenge.”
Lindall said that video inaccurately characterizes the issue. “The governor’s pension website is misleading to the public. Rather than pretending that the pension debt is the cause, when in fact, it’s a symptom of the state’s unfair tax structure — and instead of comparing retirees to snakes — a worthwhile education effort would explain what’s truly needed: a guarantee that politicians won’t skip pension payments going forward; and adequate revenue to maintain vital services while the state pays the pension debt.”
Quinn today declined to comment on a plan under consideration in the House to borrow $4 billion. The measure, House Bill 6240, is sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Esther Golar. “I haven’t seen that bill. I have to look at it,” Quinn said. In the past, he has pushed the idea of borrowing billions to pay off some of the state's overdue bills.
Gov. Pat Quinn said today that Illinois does not have the money to give public workers raises under the contract their union is currently negotiating with the state.
“We’ve already told the union in the negotiations that there’s no money for raises,” Quinn said. He said he supports a House resolution that would urge lawmakers not to approve money for raises in the fiscal year 2013 budget. “It’s just common sense. The piggy bank is not there to be giving out raises. We have many bills to pay. We have this pension challenge, and so the notion that we would be giving out raises is not in the cards. And so it’s better for everybody, the executive branch and the legislative branch, to let the government employee union know what the facts are.”
“HJR 45 unnecessarily limits the rights of workers and undermines the state employee collective bargaining process that has worked without disruption in Illinois for 40 years,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement. “This resolution and continued false statements by the governor and his administration wrongly blame hard-working public servants for the state’s budget problems. Men and women who care for veterans and the disabled, protect children from abuse and keep our communities safe have earned middle-class wages, and Pat Quinn’s actions to terminate their union contract while trying to drive down their standard of living is an attack on the middle class.”
Lindall said the union has offered in negotiations with Quinn to forgo raises next year as part of a “comprehensive settlement.”
“We’re negotiating now,” Quinn said of the new contract. “I really hope we can come to a fair deal for everybody,” Quinn opted last week not to extend the union’s previous contract, which expired in June. However, workers are staying on the job without a contract, and the terms of the expired contract remain in place under state law.
Quinn also defended Squeezy the Pension Python, a character in an online video produced by the governor’s office to inform the public on growing pension costs. The cartoon snake has been mocked by some political commentators. Quinn said the character is a “creative” way to explain the issue to the average Facebook or Twitter user. “In the world of social media, you’re trying to connect to folks who maybe aren’t all that political. That’s maybe 98 percent of the people. They don’t live and breathe politics every day, and we’ve got to get beyond the sphere of just people on the inside. The issue of the pension reform really affects everybody, the amount of money we spend on our schools and our public safety and helping veterans, all of that is getting squeezed by this pension challenge.”
Lindall said that video inaccurately characterizes the issue. “The governor’s pension website is misleading to the public. Rather than pretending that the pension debt is the cause, when in fact, it’s a symptom of the state’s unfair tax structure — and instead of comparing retirees to snakes — a worthwhile education effort would explain what’s truly needed: a guarantee that politicians won’t skip pension payments going forward; and adequate revenue to maintain vital services while the state pays the pension debt.”
Quinn today declined to comment on a plan under consideration in the House to borrow $4 billion. The measure, House Bill 6240, is sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Esther Golar. “I haven’t seen that bill. I have to look at it,” Quinn said. In the past, he has pushed the idea of borrowing billions to pay off some of the state's overdue bills.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
House resolution could mean no pay raises for state workers
By Jamey Dunn
State workers may not get a raise next fiscal year if lawmakers stick to a resolution approved by a House committee today.
House Joint Resolution 45 says that the General Assembly will not approve funding in the fiscal year 2013 budget to pay for any raises that could come out of the collective bargaining talks currently being held between Gov. Pat Quinn and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, the state’s largest public employee union.
The resolution does not legally bind Quinn from striking a deal to give workers a pay raise, but if passed, it would send a message that lawmakers are unlikely to include the money for a raise in next fiscal year’s budget. “It’s very straightforward. It simply expresses the opinion of the House concerning the amount of money that should be spent pending [a] collective bargaining contract,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsors the amendment. The measure also states that it would be “policy of the state of Illinois” that the size of the state’s workforce will not be part of collective bargaining, meaning that promises to skip or lessen layoffs could not be used as bargaining chip in negotiations. Again, this provision would not legally bind Quinn or governors following him.
The legislature effectively blocked pay increases for AFSCME members last year by not including the money for them in the budget. Gov. Quinn canceled the raises, saying that his hands were tied by the budget approved by lawmakers. The issue is still playing out in court. Although resolutions are not legally binding, the House has also stuck to recent budget resolutions that capped general spending.
Lawmakers in favor of the resolution say that because the legislature approves the budget, the General Assembly should have some say in the spending associated with union contracts. “We’ve put our input in, which is we don’t have additional money. So if you make promises regarding additional money, the state does not have the ability to keep those promises,” said Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat.
But union officials say that the legislature is undermining the collective bargaining process. “Our union has negotiated contracts with Democratic governors, with Republican governors, in good fiscal times and in bad fiscal times. And the current collective bargaining process, uninterrupted, has allowed for contracts that are fair both to the workforce and to taxpayers,” said Joanna Webb-Gauvin, legislative director for AFSCME Council 31.
She said that the resolution could “destabilize labor relations” in Illinois. It appears that negotiations over the contract are already on shaky ground. Quinn decided last week not to extend the contract, which expired in June. However, workers are staying on the job without a contract and the terms of the expired contract remain in place under state law.
“We are very much aware of the state’s fiscal condition. No one is more aware of the state’s fiscal crisis then our members who have been on the front lines suffering under shared sacrifice for the past decade,” said Webb-Gauvin. “Our members and their salaries did not cause the fiscal crisis, and passing this resolution won’t solve it.”
“This resolution does not attack state workers,” said Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican. “We understand the job that they do. We understand the hard work that they do. I do not feel that it is an interference into the collective bargaining process.” He said that lawmakers, who are wrestling with difficult budgeting decisions, need to convey the reality of the state’s dire fiscal situation. “We should have a voice.”
The resolution passed out of committee with no opposition. Bradley said it could come up for a floor vote in the House as early as tomorrow.
State workers may not get a raise next fiscal year if lawmakers stick to a resolution approved by a House committee today.
House Joint Resolution 45 says that the General Assembly will not approve funding in the fiscal year 2013 budget to pay for any raises that could come out of the collective bargaining talks currently being held between Gov. Pat Quinn and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, the state’s largest public employee union.
The resolution does not legally bind Quinn from striking a deal to give workers a pay raise, but if passed, it would send a message that lawmakers are unlikely to include the money for a raise in next fiscal year’s budget. “It’s very straightforward. It simply expresses the opinion of the House concerning the amount of money that should be spent pending [a] collective bargaining contract,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsors the amendment. The measure also states that it would be “policy of the state of Illinois” that the size of the state’s workforce will not be part of collective bargaining, meaning that promises to skip or lessen layoffs could not be used as bargaining chip in negotiations. Again, this provision would not legally bind Quinn or governors following him.
The legislature effectively blocked pay increases for AFSCME members last year by not including the money for them in the budget. Gov. Quinn canceled the raises, saying that his hands were tied by the budget approved by lawmakers. The issue is still playing out in court. Although resolutions are not legally binding, the House has also stuck to recent budget resolutions that capped general spending.
Lawmakers in favor of the resolution say that because the legislature approves the budget, the General Assembly should have some say in the spending associated with union contracts. “We’ve put our input in, which is we don’t have additional money. So if you make promises regarding additional money, the state does not have the ability to keep those promises,” said Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat.
But union officials say that the legislature is undermining the collective bargaining process. “Our union has negotiated contracts with Democratic governors, with Republican governors, in good fiscal times and in bad fiscal times. And the current collective bargaining process, uninterrupted, has allowed for contracts that are fair both to the workforce and to taxpayers,” said Joanna Webb-Gauvin, legislative director for AFSCME Council 31.
She said that the resolution could “destabilize labor relations” in Illinois. It appears that negotiations over the contract are already on shaky ground. Quinn decided last week not to extend the contract, which expired in June. However, workers are staying on the job without a contract and the terms of the expired contract remain in place under state law.
“We are very much aware of the state’s fiscal condition. No one is more aware of the state’s fiscal crisis then our members who have been on the front lines suffering under shared sacrifice for the past decade,” said Webb-Gauvin. “Our members and their salaries did not cause the fiscal crisis, and passing this resolution won’t solve it.”
“This resolution does not attack state workers,” said Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican. “We understand the job that they do. We understand the hard work that they do. I do not feel that it is an interference into the collective bargaining process.” He said that lawmakers, who are wrestling with difficult budgeting decisions, need to convey the reality of the state’s dire fiscal situation. “We should have a voice.”
The resolution passed out of committee with no opposition. Bradley said it could come up for a floor vote in the House as early as tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Business group calls state pension problem "unfixable"
By Jamey Dunn
The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago called the state’s troubled pension system “unfixable” in a memo sent to its members today.
The group’s leadership claims that it is no longer possible to preserve the state’s pension system with the benefit levels currently offered and that proposals that have recently come up for consideration in the legislature would not go far enough toward solving the problem. “While a number of pension reforms have been proposed in the General Assembly, these are half measures at best. Whether they involve token reductions in cost-of-living adjustments, locking in billions of dollars in unfunded retiree health care obligations or other scenarios, these ‘reforms’ are either inefficient or stand to make our state’s fiscal scenario even worse,” the memo stated.
The committee offered four changes to benefits that its leaders said must be included in any “meaningful” pension reform. The memo proposed eliminating all cost-of-living increases for current and future retirees, capping the level of salary that can be used to determine benefits, increasing the retirement age to 67 and shifting the state’s portion of the cost of retiree benefits for educators to K-12 schools outside of Chicago, universities and community colleges over 12 years. The memo said that the four proposals would not fix the problem, but would “slow the bleeding.”
The proposals cut deeper into benefits than any provisions recently up for consideration in the legislature and presumably would also do more to cut pension costs. Some of them mirror past proposals but go one step further. For example, Gov. Pat Quinn proposed increasing the retirement age to 67. But under his plan, the increase would be phased in so those close to retirement when it took effect would not be affected. The committee’s proposal does not include such a phase-in. The plan does not meet what many, including Senate President John Cullerton, see as a constitutional requirement to that prohibits any reduction in pension benefits. Cullerton has said he believes that consideration must be offered for any benefits cut. That is why Senate Bill 1673, which is the bill that lawmakers were debating at the end of the spring legislative session, would have given employees a choice between keeping cost-of-living increases based on compounded interest or state-subsidized retiree health care. There are many who believe even such a consideration violates the protection of pension benefits in the Illinois Constitution.
The Civic Committee based its assertion that the system is “unfixable” upon an in-house actuarial analysis, which it is not releasing publicly at this time. However, in a separate letter to Gov. Pat Quinn, the group’s leaders said that the political climate was also a factor. “We base that statement on more than just the overwhelming numbers. The magnitude of the unfunded obligations, combined with the total lack of political courage to rectify the situation, leads us to believe that our pension systems can no longer be salvaged sufficiently to meet their current obligations.”
“Millionaire CEOs want to slash the modest retirement savings earned by middle-class public servants like teachers, police, nurses and caregivers,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement. “Regrettably, that’s not news. But it is disappointing that the Civic Committee’s letter to the governor is alarmingly fact-free: No mention that the pension debt was mostly caused by politicians who skipped required payments even as public employees always paid their share. No mention that retirees rely on an average pension of just $32,000 a year, with nearly 80 percent not eligible for Social Security.”
Meanwhile, Quinn and House Minority Leader Tom Cross said they have been meeting about pension reforms and are optimistic about passing a bill before the new General Assembly is seated in January. “It’s not a mystery to anybody that we need to fix it. I think the sooner the better. I hope it’s done and believe it can be down in a bipartisan collaborative manner. We had a good meeting the other day, and I hope we can move forward over the next couple months,” Cross told reporters in Chicago.
Quinn danced around the issue of shifting pension costs to schools — the major topic of disagreement between Cross and Chicago Democrats. “Well, I don’t think you should just emphasize one part of it,” Quinn said. “I anticipate over the next couple months we’ll have quite a bit of discussion to iron out the fine points and get it done.” Quinn has been a vocal advocate of the cost shift in the past.
Cross said reductions to cost-of-living increases would likely continue to be a target of those looking to cut pension costs. He also said a change to the retirement age is on his list as a potential component of a reform package. “I think we would agree that the [cost-of-living adjustment] is an area where we can save some significant amounts of money. I think that is probably one of the big big areas where you could do that. I think you can impact when people retire. You can impact through the amount of the [cost-of-living adjustments] ... when people get it.”
The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago called the state’s troubled pension system “unfixable” in a memo sent to its members today.
The group’s leadership claims that it is no longer possible to preserve the state’s pension system with the benefit levels currently offered and that proposals that have recently come up for consideration in the legislature would not go far enough toward solving the problem. “While a number of pension reforms have been proposed in the General Assembly, these are half measures at best. Whether they involve token reductions in cost-of-living adjustments, locking in billions of dollars in unfunded retiree health care obligations or other scenarios, these ‘reforms’ are either inefficient or stand to make our state’s fiscal scenario even worse,” the memo stated.
The committee offered four changes to benefits that its leaders said must be included in any “meaningful” pension reform. The memo proposed eliminating all cost-of-living increases for current and future retirees, capping the level of salary that can be used to determine benefits, increasing the retirement age to 67 and shifting the state’s portion of the cost of retiree benefits for educators to K-12 schools outside of Chicago, universities and community colleges over 12 years. The memo said that the four proposals would not fix the problem, but would “slow the bleeding.”
The proposals cut deeper into benefits than any provisions recently up for consideration in the legislature and presumably would also do more to cut pension costs. Some of them mirror past proposals but go one step further. For example, Gov. Pat Quinn proposed increasing the retirement age to 67. But under his plan, the increase would be phased in so those close to retirement when it took effect would not be affected. The committee’s proposal does not include such a phase-in. The plan does not meet what many, including Senate President John Cullerton, see as a constitutional requirement to that prohibits any reduction in pension benefits. Cullerton has said he believes that consideration must be offered for any benefits cut. That is why Senate Bill 1673, which is the bill that lawmakers were debating at the end of the spring legislative session, would have given employees a choice between keeping cost-of-living increases based on compounded interest or state-subsidized retiree health care. There are many who believe even such a consideration violates the protection of pension benefits in the Illinois Constitution.
The Civic Committee based its assertion that the system is “unfixable” upon an in-house actuarial analysis, which it is not releasing publicly at this time. However, in a separate letter to Gov. Pat Quinn, the group’s leaders said that the political climate was also a factor. “We base that statement on more than just the overwhelming numbers. The magnitude of the unfunded obligations, combined with the total lack of political courage to rectify the situation, leads us to believe that our pension systems can no longer be salvaged sufficiently to meet their current obligations.”
“Millionaire CEOs want to slash the modest retirement savings earned by middle-class public servants like teachers, police, nurses and caregivers,” Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said in a written statement. “Regrettably, that’s not news. But it is disappointing that the Civic Committee’s letter to the governor is alarmingly fact-free: No mention that the pension debt was mostly caused by politicians who skipped required payments even as public employees always paid their share. No mention that retirees rely on an average pension of just $32,000 a year, with nearly 80 percent not eligible for Social Security.”
Meanwhile, Quinn and House Minority Leader Tom Cross said they have been meeting about pension reforms and are optimistic about passing a bill before the new General Assembly is seated in January. “It’s not a mystery to anybody that we need to fix it. I think the sooner the better. I hope it’s done and believe it can be down in a bipartisan collaborative manner. We had a good meeting the other day, and I hope we can move forward over the next couple months,” Cross told reporters in Chicago.
Quinn danced around the issue of shifting pension costs to schools — the major topic of disagreement between Cross and Chicago Democrats. “Well, I don’t think you should just emphasize one part of it,” Quinn said. “I anticipate over the next couple months we’ll have quite a bit of discussion to iron out the fine points and get it done.” Quinn has been a vocal advocate of the cost shift in the past.
Cross said reductions to cost-of-living increases would likely continue to be a target of those looking to cut pension costs. He also said a change to the retirement age is on his list as a potential component of a reform package. “I think we would agree that the [cost-of-living adjustment] is an area where we can save some significant amounts of money. I think that is probably one of the big big areas where you could do that. I think you can impact when people retire. You can impact through the amount of the [cost-of-living adjustments] ... when people get it.”
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Future of state prisons is likely up to the courts
By Jamey Dunn
The future of Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close several state corrections facilities will likely be determined by the outcomes of dueling court challenges.
Gov. Pat Quinn scored a victory when an arbitrator ruled that his plan to shutter a super-maximum security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro would not endanger workers.
Arbitrator Steven Bierig said in his rulings that the best course of action would be to keep the prisons open. However, he said that Quinn’s administration had taken steps to ensure that the plan would be safe and not present a danger to prison workers.
Abdon Pallasch, a Quinn budget spokesman, said the administration would not resume the closures until getting the green light from a court. Quinn’s administration has asked a Cook County court to sign off on the ruling and also asked that a court in Alexander County remove a hold that was placed on the plan.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents prison workers, has asked the judge to keep the block in place. In a rare move, the union is also asking the court to nullify the arbitrator’s ruling. “AFSCME has only once before challenged an arbitrator’s decision in court,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a written statement. “Since we believe this decision clearly violates the state’s public policy that requires the employer to provide a safe work environment, we have asked the judge to vacate the arbitrator’s award and submit the case back to the arbitrator to correct his mistakes with regard to the interpretation of the state’s health and safety law.”
The Quinn administration has also asked the Illinois Supreme Court to step in, but Pallasch said that so far, the higher court has not responded to the request. He said that because the courts operate at their own paces, the administration has not set a new timeline for closing the prisons and other facilities. Quinn had planned to close the facilities by the end of August, but legal battles with AFSCME delayed the closure. “The courts can do whatever they want,” he said. “Obviously, we would love it as soon as possible. It’s costing us an extra $7 million a month, so the sooner the better.”
The future of Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close several state corrections facilities will likely be determined by the outcomes of dueling court challenges.
Gov. Pat Quinn scored a victory when an arbitrator ruled that his plan to shutter a super-maximum security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro would not endanger workers.
Arbitrator Steven Bierig said in his rulings that the best course of action would be to keep the prisons open. However, he said that Quinn’s administration had taken steps to ensure that the plan would be safe and not present a danger to prison workers.
Abdon Pallasch, a Quinn budget spokesman, said the administration would not resume the closures until getting the green light from a court. Quinn’s administration has asked a Cook County court to sign off on the ruling and also asked that a court in Alexander County remove a hold that was placed on the plan.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents prison workers, has asked the judge to keep the block in place. In a rare move, the union is also asking the court to nullify the arbitrator’s ruling. “AFSCME has only once before challenged an arbitrator’s decision in court,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a written statement. “Since we believe this decision clearly violates the state’s public policy that requires the employer to provide a safe work environment, we have asked the judge to vacate the arbitrator’s award and submit the case back to the arbitrator to correct his mistakes with regard to the interpretation of the state’s health and safety law.”
The Quinn administration has also asked the Illinois Supreme Court to step in, but Pallasch said that so far, the higher court has not responded to the request. He said that because the courts operate at their own paces, the administration has not set a new timeline for closing the prisons and other facilities. Quinn had planned to close the facilities by the end of August, but legal battles with AFSCME delayed the closure. “The courts can do whatever they want,” he said. “Obviously, we would love it as soon as possible. It’s costing us an extra $7 million a month, so the sooner the better.”
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Judge issues order halting prison closures
An Alexander County judge has issued a restraining order to block Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to close several state corrections facilities.
According to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Judge Charles Cavaness issued the order today in Alexander County Circuit Court.
Quinn had intended to shutter a super-maximum-security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro, but AFSCME sued to block the closures. The union argued that moving prisoners to other overcrowded facilities would create unsafe working conditions for its members. In his order, Cavaness wrote that the closures "have the potential to make the prisons that remain more dangerous for employees."
An arbitrator ruled Friday that the closures violate the union's contract with the state and ordered Quinn and AFSCME to resolve the issue through ongoing contract negotiations.
Last month, Quinn temporarily stopped layoffs and the transfer of inmates, saying he would hold off on implementing his plan while legal proceedings played out. However, Kelly Kraft, a Quinn spokeswoman, said the administration is not backing down from the closure plan. “We are examining options.” She said Quinn hopes to resolve the matter quickly.
According to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Judge Charles Cavaness issued the order today in Alexander County Circuit Court.
Quinn had intended to shutter a super-maximum-security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro, but AFSCME sued to block the closures. The union argued that moving prisoners to other overcrowded facilities would create unsafe working conditions for its members. In his order, Cavaness wrote that the closures "have the potential to make the prisons that remain more dangerous for employees."
An arbitrator ruled Friday that the closures violate the union's contract with the state and ordered Quinn and AFSCME to resolve the issue through ongoing contract negotiations.
Last month, Quinn temporarily stopped layoffs and the transfer of inmates, saying he would hold off on implementing his plan while legal proceedings played out. However, Kelly Kraft, a Quinn spokeswoman, said the administration is not backing down from the closure plan. “We are examining options.” She said Quinn hopes to resolve the matter quickly.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Arbitrator: Prison closures violate union contract
By Jamey Dunn
An arbitrator ruled today that Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to close several state corrections facilities violates union contracts.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees sued earlier this month to block the closure of seven state facilities. Quinn had planned to shutter a super-maximum security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro. The union and the administration agreed to take the issue to an arbitrator.
Most of the facilities were scheduled to close August 31, but Quinn agreed to put a temporary hold on the closures while legal proceedings played out, and the Associated Press reported this week that Department of Corrections officials sent letters to employees telling them to continue reporting to work.
Arbitrator Steven Bierig wrote in his finding: “The state violated the contract when it moved to close Department of Corrections Facilities and Department of Juvenile Justice Facilities prior to the conclusion of impact bargaining with the Union. The matter is remanded to the parties to conclude bargaining prior to the closure of said Facilities. The parties are ordered to conclude impact bargaining within 30 days of the date of this Award, unless agreed upon otherwise.”
AFSCME, the state’s largest public employee union, and the Quinn administration are currently negotiating contracts because the union’s previous four-year contract expired in June. Both sides agreed to extend the terms of the previous contract and seek the assistance of a mediator for future negotiations.
Today's ruling move comes the day after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Billik Jr. told Quinn to submit vouchers to the comptroller’s office for AFSCME pay raises, which are under dispute. The judge has yet to decide whether the state must pay the raises, but he ordered Quinn to set aside the money so it will be available if he rules in favor of the unions. Quinn refused to pay the raises, saying that the General Assembly did not include the money in last fiscal year’s budget.
“Today's decision is another important step forward," Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31 said in a written statement. "Gov. Quinn's reckless rush to close prisons despite the consequences has been halted for now, but our work to protect the public safety continues. There is no rationale for closing these facilities. They were fully funded by the legislature, which recognizes that closing them would destabilize the entire prison system, worsen dangerous overcrowding and put the safety of employees, inmates, youth and the public at risk. We urge Gov. Quinn to drop his push to close needed prisons, undermine communities and destroy good jobs.”
AFSCME has asked a judge to make the ruling binding and order the state to comply. However, the Quinn administration has filed an appeal and asked that the ruling be vacated. "As we work to move Illinois forward by closing tax payer funded facilities the state no longer needs that are empty, half full, outdated and expensive to operate--it is disappointing that progress to make Illinois a better place and to put its financial house in order continues to be halted," Kelly Kraft, a Quinn spokeswoman, said in a written statement. "We remain committed to our closure plans and are eager to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."
An arbitrator ruled today that Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to close several state corrections facilities violates union contracts.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees sued earlier this month to block the closure of seven state facilities. Quinn had planned to shutter a super-maximum security prison near Tamms, a women’s prison in Dwight, adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro. The union and the administration agreed to take the issue to an arbitrator.
Most of the facilities were scheduled to close August 31, but Quinn agreed to put a temporary hold on the closures while legal proceedings played out, and the Associated Press reported this week that Department of Corrections officials sent letters to employees telling them to continue reporting to work.
Arbitrator Steven Bierig wrote in his finding: “The state violated the contract when it moved to close Department of Corrections Facilities and Department of Juvenile Justice Facilities prior to the conclusion of impact bargaining with the Union. The matter is remanded to the parties to conclude bargaining prior to the closure of said Facilities. The parties are ordered to conclude impact bargaining within 30 days of the date of this Award, unless agreed upon otherwise.”
AFSCME, the state’s largest public employee union, and the Quinn administration are currently negotiating contracts because the union’s previous four-year contract expired in June. Both sides agreed to extend the terms of the previous contract and seek the assistance of a mediator for future negotiations.
Today's ruling move comes the day after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Billik Jr. told Quinn to submit vouchers to the comptroller’s office for AFSCME pay raises, which are under dispute. The judge has yet to decide whether the state must pay the raises, but he ordered Quinn to set aside the money so it will be available if he rules in favor of the unions. Quinn refused to pay the raises, saying that the General Assembly did not include the money in last fiscal year’s budget.
“Today's decision is another important step forward," Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31 said in a written statement. "Gov. Quinn's reckless rush to close prisons despite the consequences has been halted for now, but our work to protect the public safety continues. There is no rationale for closing these facilities. They were fully funded by the legislature, which recognizes that closing them would destabilize the entire prison system, worsen dangerous overcrowding and put the safety of employees, inmates, youth and the public at risk. We urge Gov. Quinn to drop his push to close needed prisons, undermine communities and destroy good jobs.”
AFSCME has asked a judge to make the ruling binding and order the state to comply. However, the Quinn administration has filed an appeal and asked that the ruling be vacated. "As we work to move Illinois forward by closing tax payer funded facilities the state no longer needs that are empty, half full, outdated and expensive to operate--it is disappointing that progress to make Illinois a better place and to put its financial house in order continues to be halted," Kelly Kraft, a Quinn spokeswoman, said in a written statement. "We remain committed to our closure plans and are eager to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Governor's Day at the fair turns into loud protest
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn found few allies today in his push to reform the pension systems for retired state workers.
Quinn faced a wall of sound from union protesters as he spoke on Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair this afternoon. His speech was barely audible over loud booing and chants of “Respect Illinois workers.” Several protesters shouted out “Keep your promises” as the governor tried to make himself heard over the crowd. A plane circled overhead carrying a banner that read “Gov. Quinn — unfair to workers.”
The event, usually meant to be a sort of pep rally for the party holding the governor’s office, instead served to display deep divides among Illinois Democrats over pension reform, the closure of state facilities and budget cuts that Quinn has said necessitated layoffs of state workers and a freeze on contractual raises.Since lawmakers are scheduled to be in special session on Friday to debate pension reform, it was the issue of the day. House Speaker Michael Madigan laid the success or failure of pension reform in Friday’s special session at the feet of Quinn and House Minority Leader Tom Cross. He said the two are scheduled to meet Friday morning “So hopefully, we’ll get some resolve out of those discussions between Governor Quinn and Leader Cross,” Madigan said at a Democratic party breakfast this morning.
Quinn drew some protesters to the morning event, where union members handed out fliers and called out, “Act like a Democrat, Pat!” But it was little, compared to the pushback at the state fair, where protesters followed him on his way to the event booing and chanting and even crowded around him while he stopped for a snack.
“If you want to be governor of Illinois and you want to step into the arena, you’d better have a tough hide. I have a lot of people who may call me names, but I think there’s a lot of people in Illinois who agree with what I am trying to do, which is to make sure we invest in our children and have good education. And sometimes you have to make reforms like in the pension that are difficult but necessary for everyday people to have a good state,” Quinn said this morning. “We’re going to reform the pensions, and I know some of the state workers don’t like that, but they’re going to have accept what the voters — I think — at large want.”
Skokie Rep. Lou Lang, a member of Democratic leadership in the House, said that he applauds the union members for making their voices heard at the fair. However, Lang said: “I understand their concerns, and in many ways, I agree with them and may be voting with them. That still does not mean that we should not give the governor his due respect as the governor [and] as a person who has supported the things that matter to the men and women of organized labor for a very long time.”
Lang said he was disappointed that the party did not present more of a unified front today. But he also said that the scene was illustrative of the party’s history. “It was a bunch of Democrats getting together. And Democrats are pretty noisy when they get together, and we don’t always agree. I’m sure the Republican rally tomorrow will be a lot more homogenized, and I’m sure the Republican rally tomorrow will be a lot quieter. But having said all that, this is what the Democratic Party is. It’s what it’s about. It’s what it’s always been about. I’m proud of what happened today.”
Madigan, who is also the chair of the Democratic Party in Illinois, brushed off the acrimony over pension reform and other issues, saying he did not think it would do permanent damage to his party in the state. “We’re trying to balance the budget. We’re trying to improve the fiscal condition of the state of Illinois. People from organized labor are representing their people, and they ought to do that. ... It’s just a natural conflict that’s going to be there. I don’t think there’s any long-term adverse implications that are going to come out of it,” he said at the morning event. “Promises were made. But if you don’t have the money to pay the promise, I think you have to step back, bring everybody together, talk reality and look toward how we can restore some fiscal stability to the [pension] systems and to the state of Illinois.”Madigan said that House Bill 1147, which would only apply to state workers and legislators and avoids the issue of shifting pension costs to local school systems and universities, would be progress. He said he presented a comprehensive reform plan during the regular session, but it was not approved by the House.
Quinn supports a plan from Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, that would apply to all state retirees. Nekritz’s bill would phase in a controversial cost shift to schools and universities more slowly than a plan that failed to gain Republican support at the end of regular session. “I really would like to see both leaders in the House of Representatives put 30 votes on a bill sponsored by Rep. Elaine Nekrtiz,” Quinn said. “It’s a good bill. It’s a reasonable bill. It will reform the pensions and do it once and for all in Illinois.”
Cross supports neither plan. He is opposed to proposals that would ask downstate and suburban schools and universities to assume the retirement costs for their workers. Cross said supporters claim that the cost would be 6 percent to 9 percent of payroll for most schools. However, he said that there are many factors that could make the numbers spike. “That’s a floor, and given the unfunded liability numbers out there, given the potential for market drops, given the potential for change in interest rates assumption, or [if] the General Assembly doesn’t make payments, that number climbs significantly,” Cross said at a Chicago news conference yesterday. Cross and other Republicans say a cost shift could result n increased property taxes and layoffs. Cross said he does not back a proposal that leaves out schools and universities. “If we do that bill, the day it becomes law, we’ll see litigation. It’s inevitable that we’re going to see litigation, and once that litigation starts, it’s our belief that we will cease the discussions on pension reform until the conclusion of a lawsuit.”
Cross said Quinn should keep lawmakers in session until a deal can be reached. “This needs to happen. It doesn’t need to happen after the election. It needs to happen now. ... And so, call us back to special session. And people are going to yell and scream, and they’re going to complain, and it’ll be chaotic down there [in Springfield]. But my approach is.,you put us in a room, lock the key, and when we’re done, you let us out.”
Despite the lack of agreement, Quinn remains optimistic that things could still fall in line to pass a bill on Friday. “I think each of the leaders is waiting for the other to move forward. And I hope we can in the next couple of days get everybody to jump aboard at the same time. Hold hands and let’s go together.”
Monday, August 13, 2012
Unions pitch their own pension reform plan
By Jamey Dunn
Union officials laid out the broad strokes of their own pension reform plan today.
Cinda Klickna, president of the Illinois Education Association, described the plan backed by We Are One Illinois—a coalition of public employee unions, which includes the Illinois AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union and unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and transportation workers. Klickna said that group seeks a guarantee that the state will make the required pension contribution. Under the proposal, the priority of the pension payment would only be second to the state’s creditors. Union officials argue that legislation that is currently up for consideration does not do enough to ensure that lawmakers make the annual pension payments. They point to skipped pension payments as the primary cause of the state’s more then $80 billion unfunded pension liability. “The pension crisis was caused by past governors and legislators that failed that people of the state,” Klickna said.
The group also is proposing that lawmakers reevaluate corporate tax breaks, such as the package of tax cuts recently passed to benefit Sears and the CME group. The collation is focusing on a group of tax breaks, the elimination of which they say could save the $80.7 billion over the next 34 years. On the list are tax exemptions for paper and ink given to news outlets, a tax exemption for foreign dividends and a tax break given to retailers for collecting the state’s sales tax. “We cannot longer afford to let these big corporations off the hook will vital services continue to be slashed,” said Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. “We need to reform our tax system. It’s long, long overdue. ... We need to focus on where the money is -- what we can afford and what’s fair.”
All of the tax breaks have the backing of relatively powerful lobbying groups and could be a tough sell to legislators who are concerned about giving the appearance of being pro jobs and business friendly in the wake of the economic downturn.
The union coalition is also asking that any changes would not affect current retirees. In exchange for those three considerations, the group says that current workers would pay more toward the cost of retirement. Klickna said that such an increase would need to be negotiated, but she said the amount would likely vary across the different pension systems. “The employees didn’t cause the crisis, but we’re going on record today to say our members are willing to help fix it if the state will guarantee that the politicians will never again divert our pension money to other expenses,” Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a prepared statement.
The move comes as lawmakers are scheduled to return to Springfield this Friday to take up the pensions issue during a special session called by Gov. Pat Quinn. However, Quinn’s camp does not seem responsive to the plan. “This is nothing new, and all has been discussed before,” Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Quinn, said in an emailed response to Illinois Issues. “This proposal would not solve the state's pension challenges, nor is it feasible.”
House Speaker Michael Madigan reportedly plans to call House Bill 1447, which the Senate approved on the last day of the spring legislative session. The measure would require employees and retirees to choose between keeping either a cost-of-living increase based on compounded interest or state-subsidized health care benefits. Current employees who chose to keep the compounded cost-of-living adjustment would also not be able to factor any future raises into calculating their pension benefits.
Unions maintain that the pension reform plan is unconstitutional and presents workers and retirees with a false choice between two bad outcomes. “If I had to chose between my [COLA] and my insurance, it would be like asking me to cut off my right hand or my left hand,” said Barbara Gilhaus, a retired teacher. Gilhaus said she gets about $28,000 annually from her pension.
Supporters of the plan to offer employees a choice between health care and compounded COLAs say it passes constitutional muster because it allows employees to decide what benefits that may want to trade off to keep others. Quinn also recently signed Senate Bill 1313, which will result in retirees paying more for their health care coverage. While the state still plans to kick in to cover some of the health care costs for retirees, some retirees will have to start being premiums under the plan.
HB 1477 only applies to state workers and members of the General Assembly. Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on whether universities, community colleges and downstate and suburban schools should have to pick up the cost of their employees' retirement. There are multiple bills on the table that would sift the costs to schools over several years. But so far, Republicans have staunchly opposed them, and Democrats have been unwilling to back off the issue. Leaving the retirement benefits of teachers and university employees out of any pension vote that may happen on Friday would allow lawmakers to revisit the issue of the cost shift after the general election.
Union officials laid out the broad strokes of their own pension reform plan today.
Cinda Klickna, president of the Illinois Education Association, described the plan backed by We Are One Illinois—a coalition of public employee unions, which includes the Illinois AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union and unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and transportation workers. Klickna said that group seeks a guarantee that the state will make the required pension contribution. Under the proposal, the priority of the pension payment would only be second to the state’s creditors. Union officials argue that legislation that is currently up for consideration does not do enough to ensure that lawmakers make the annual pension payments. They point to skipped pension payments as the primary cause of the state’s more then $80 billion unfunded pension liability. “The pension crisis was caused by past governors and legislators that failed that people of the state,” Klickna said.
The group also is proposing that lawmakers reevaluate corporate tax breaks, such as the package of tax cuts recently passed to benefit Sears and the CME group. The collation is focusing on a group of tax breaks, the elimination of which they say could save the $80.7 billion over the next 34 years. On the list are tax exemptions for paper and ink given to news outlets, a tax exemption for foreign dividends and a tax break given to retailers for collecting the state’s sales tax. “We cannot longer afford to let these big corporations off the hook will vital services continue to be slashed,” said Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. “We need to reform our tax system. It’s long, long overdue. ... We need to focus on where the money is -- what we can afford and what’s fair.”
All of the tax breaks have the backing of relatively powerful lobbying groups and could be a tough sell to legislators who are concerned about giving the appearance of being pro jobs and business friendly in the wake of the economic downturn.
The union coalition is also asking that any changes would not affect current retirees. In exchange for those three considerations, the group says that current workers would pay more toward the cost of retirement. Klickna said that such an increase would need to be negotiated, but she said the amount would likely vary across the different pension systems. “The employees didn’t cause the crisis, but we’re going on record today to say our members are willing to help fix it if the state will guarantee that the politicians will never again divert our pension money to other expenses,” Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said in a prepared statement.
The move comes as lawmakers are scheduled to return to Springfield this Friday to take up the pensions issue during a special session called by Gov. Pat Quinn. However, Quinn’s camp does not seem responsive to the plan. “This is nothing new, and all has been discussed before,” Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Quinn, said in an emailed response to Illinois Issues. “This proposal would not solve the state's pension challenges, nor is it feasible.”
House Speaker Michael Madigan reportedly plans to call House Bill 1447, which the Senate approved on the last day of the spring legislative session. The measure would require employees and retirees to choose between keeping either a cost-of-living increase based on compounded interest or state-subsidized health care benefits. Current employees who chose to keep the compounded cost-of-living adjustment would also not be able to factor any future raises into calculating their pension benefits.
Unions maintain that the pension reform plan is unconstitutional and presents workers and retirees with a false choice between two bad outcomes. “If I had to chose between my [COLA] and my insurance, it would be like asking me to cut off my right hand or my left hand,” said Barbara Gilhaus, a retired teacher. Gilhaus said she gets about $28,000 annually from her pension.
Supporters of the plan to offer employees a choice between health care and compounded COLAs say it passes constitutional muster because it allows employees to decide what benefits that may want to trade off to keep others. Quinn also recently signed Senate Bill 1313, which will result in retirees paying more for their health care coverage. While the state still plans to kick in to cover some of the health care costs for retirees, some retirees will have to start being premiums under the plan.
HB 1477 only applies to state workers and members of the General Assembly. Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on whether universities, community colleges and downstate and suburban schools should have to pick up the cost of their employees' retirement. There are multiple bills on the table that would sift the costs to schools over several years. But so far, Republicans have staunchly opposed them, and Democrats have been unwilling to back off the issue. Leaving the retirement benefits of teachers and university employees out of any pension vote that may happen on Friday would allow lawmakers to revisit the issue of the cost shift after the general election.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
AFSCME sues to keep prisons open
By Jamey Dunn
The state’s largest public employee union is suing to block Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to shut down several correctional facilities on the grounds that the closures would create unsafe working environments for its members.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 is seeking an injunction against the closure of seven facilities. Two of the facilities are prisons, a super-maximum-security prison near Tamms and a women’s prison in Dwight. The union is also suing to keep open adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro. According to AFSCME, Quinn’s closure plan would result in the transfer of almost 5,000 prisoners, including youth offenders. “Many of the inmates that will be moved are those who have been intentionally segregated in the correctional system because of the danger they pose to guards and to other inmates. Almost a thousand maximum security female inmates will be moved, and several hundred maximum security youth will be moved as well. The insertion of these inmates into the overcrowded prisons of the state will inevitably foment unrest that will put employees, other inmates and the general community at risk,” said AFSCME’s complaint.
According to the complaint, AFSCME is suing to protect its members from the “risk of injury and death” that the group says they would face under Quinn’s plan. “Inmates are being sent to prisons that are too crowded, too short of staff or lacking appropriate security features to safely incarcerate them,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement. “We’re asking the court for an injunction to prevent the state from moving forward with any closure until the related grievances have been resolved.”
Lawmakers approved a budget that contained money to keep facilities open for the current fiscal year, but Quinn used his veto pen to reject the money and has moved forward with closures. “They’re going to be closed. I do believe that we have to see our budget as what our priorities are,” Quinn said when he announced his changes to the budget. He called on lawmakers to instead use the money to defer other cuts that were in the budget, including an $86 million reduction to funding for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The State-Journal Register reported that the agency recently issued layoff notices to 600 employees as part of a restructuring plan that would result in a net reduction of 375 jobs. The department claimed that the layoffs were a direct result of the budget cut.
Legislators opposed to the closures have asked Quinn to hold off on shutting down the facilities until they have a chance to act on the governor’s vetoes. “Anyone who calls to keep these outdated, half-full, expensive facilities open is calling for the continual waste of taxpayer dollars on facilities the state no longer needs, ” Kelly Kraft, a spokesperson for Quinn, said in a prepared statement. “The overall population is down from last year, and female entries into the system are declining. Inmates will be safely and securely transitioned into appropriate facilities fully capable of securing offenders and resulting in costs savings to Illinois taxpayers. Some will say that money was provided in the budget to keep these facilities open, when in reality, legislators made a choice on how to spend taxpayer dollars: choosing outdated, half-full, expensive prisons over educating our children and keeping them safe.”
The state’s largest public employee union is suing to block Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to shut down several correctional facilities on the grounds that the closures would create unsafe working environments for its members.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 is seeking an injunction against the closure of seven facilities. Two of the facilities are prisons, a super-maximum-security prison near Tamms and a women’s prison in Dwight. The union is also suing to keep open adult transition centers in Decatur, Carbondale and Chicago and youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro. According to AFSCME, Quinn’s closure plan would result in the transfer of almost 5,000 prisoners, including youth offenders. “Many of the inmates that will be moved are those who have been intentionally segregated in the correctional system because of the danger they pose to guards and to other inmates. Almost a thousand maximum security female inmates will be moved, and several hundred maximum security youth will be moved as well. The insertion of these inmates into the overcrowded prisons of the state will inevitably foment unrest that will put employees, other inmates and the general community at risk,” said AFSCME’s complaint.
According to the complaint, AFSCME is suing to protect its members from the “risk of injury and death” that the group says they would face under Quinn’s plan. “Inmates are being sent to prisons that are too crowded, too short of staff or lacking appropriate security features to safely incarcerate them,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer said in a prepared statement. “We’re asking the court for an injunction to prevent the state from moving forward with any closure until the related grievances have been resolved.”
Lawmakers approved a budget that contained money to keep facilities open for the current fiscal year, but Quinn used his veto pen to reject the money and has moved forward with closures. “They’re going to be closed. I do believe that we have to see our budget as what our priorities are,” Quinn said when he announced his changes to the budget. He called on lawmakers to instead use the money to defer other cuts that were in the budget, including an $86 million reduction to funding for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The State-Journal Register reported that the agency recently issued layoff notices to 600 employees as part of a restructuring plan that would result in a net reduction of 375 jobs. The department claimed that the layoffs were a direct result of the budget cut.
Legislators opposed to the closures have asked Quinn to hold off on shutting down the facilities until they have a chance to act on the governor’s vetoes. “Anyone who calls to keep these outdated, half-full, expensive facilities open is calling for the continual waste of taxpayer dollars on facilities the state no longer needs, ” Kelly Kraft, a spokesperson for Quinn, said in a prepared statement. “The overall population is down from last year, and female entries into the system are declining. Inmates will be safely and securely transitioned into appropriate facilities fully capable of securing offenders and resulting in costs savings to Illinois taxpayers. Some will say that money was provided in the budget to keep these facilities open, when in reality, legislators made a choice on how to spend taxpayer dollars: choosing outdated, half-full, expensive prisons over educating our children and keeping them safe.”
Monday, October 03, 2011
Arbitrator: Closure plan violates agreement with unions
By Jamey Dunn
The same arbitrator who ruled that Gov. Pat Quinn owes state employees the raises he has refused to pay, found today that if Quinn moves forward with his plan to close state facilities, Illinois may end up owing some state employees even more.
Arbitrator Edwin Benn’s ruling issued today said Quinn must stick to the deal he made with a public employee union. Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had agreed to cost saving measures that included a reduction in the raises in their contracts in exchange for a promise of no facility closures or layoffs. Benn said if the state does not hold up its end of the deal, it would be required to pay back wages and medical costs for employees who are put out of work by Quinn’s plan. “No employees represented by the Union can be laid off through June 30, 2012; the seven mental health and correctional facilities targeted for closure cannot be closed prior to July 1, 2012; and if any employees represented by the Union are laid off, bumped or transferred as a result of layoffs and facility closures involved in this matter prior to July 1, 2012, those employees shall be reinstated and returned to their former positions and made whole in all respects for their losses flowing from the State’s violation of its contractual promises to not lay off employees and to not close facilities prior to July 1, 2012,” the ruling stated.
Benn said the state would also be on the hook for damages paid to employees who went through certain hardships as a result of a layoff. “If as a result of the state’s violation of the cost savings agreements, adversely impacted employees are put in a position of not being able to make timely payments on their homes or cars and are foreclosed upon or evicted or otherwise forced to move from their residences, as part of the make whole relief, the state shall compensate the employees for those losses.”
Union officials said Quinn should halt his plans and avoid the risk of having to pay costly settlements to workers. “This order is unequivocal. Governor Quinn should rescind all threatened layoffs and closures,” Henry Bayer, AFSCME Council 31 executive director, said in a written statement. “Failure to do so will not only harm the vital public services state employees provide, it will expose the state to significant damages for lost wages, benefits and other costs incurred as a result of the governor’s irresponsible actions.”
The ruling included a timeline for the planned layoffs and facility closures, as well as the number of union employees that would be affected:
The arbitrator noted that laid off workers would face a tough jobs climate due to high unemployment rates — which range from 7.8 percent in Jackson County, where the Illinois Youth Center is located, to 13 percent in Winnebago County, home to the Singer Mental Health Center. “Employees who gave concessions to ease the state’s financial difficulties, and in return were promised by the state that they had job security and would not be laid off through June 30, 2012 will, because of the state’s violation of its promises, be thrown into an economy with little chance of finding comparable employment.” Anders Lindall, spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31, said elected officials should avoid creating more jobless Illinoisans. He points to recent incentives Quinn has offered corporations such as Motorola to keep jobs in the state. “If you imagine a plant closure or a business or corporation threatening to leave the state and take 2,000 jobs with them, you would hope that the governor and every other elected official would be there to save those jobs,” Lindall said. “But what we are facing right now is just that situation — state government threatening to throw 2,000 women and men out of work across the state.”
Quinn, who has previously defended the no layoffs deal with AFSCME, has said he has no other options based on the budget that lawmakers approved. He said that under that budget, if he does not skip pay raises, close the facilities and institute layoffs, the state will run out of money before the end of the current fiscal year. “[Lawmakers who approved the budget] knew exactly what they were doing. They knew there would not be enough money to maintain our facilities for the whole fiscal year or maintain our workforce for the whole fiscal year,” Quinn said when he announced the closures. According to the governor, his budget proposal, which called for billions more in spending than the plan he signed, included funding to avoid layoffs and institute pay raises. “This ruling does not change the fact that the money to run all these facilities for the entire year was not appropriated by the General Assembly. You can’t spend money you don’t have,” said a statement issued by Quinn’s office today.
Benn said Quinn’s argument is outside of his realm of consideration. “The statutory, Constitutional and other non-contract arguments raised by the state in which the state seeks to avoid its contractual obligations are not for me as an arbitrator to decide. My function is to interpret the state’s contractual obligations, and those obligations are clear and have been violated. The state’s statutory, Constitutional and other non-contractual arguments are to be resolved by the courts.” Benn predicted a lawsuit and urged any judges who take up the case to decide it quickly, given the state’s timeline for facility closures.
“Arbitrator Benn concedes that he does not have jurisdiction over the Illinois Constitution and statutes that apply to this issue, and both the Constitution and statutes remain to be addressed by the courts. We will seek to stay and vacate the decision while we continue to manage the budget so that core services the people of Illinois depend upon can be provided for the entire year,” said Quinn’s statement.
Hearings on the facility closures begin this week.
The same arbitrator who ruled that Gov. Pat Quinn owes state employees the raises he has refused to pay, found today that if Quinn moves forward with his plan to close state facilities, Illinois may end up owing some state employees even more.
Arbitrator Edwin Benn’s ruling issued today said Quinn must stick to the deal he made with a public employee union. Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had agreed to cost saving measures that included a reduction in the raises in their contracts in exchange for a promise of no facility closures or layoffs. Benn said if the state does not hold up its end of the deal, it would be required to pay back wages and medical costs for employees who are put out of work by Quinn’s plan. “No employees represented by the Union can be laid off through June 30, 2012; the seven mental health and correctional facilities targeted for closure cannot be closed prior to July 1, 2012; and if any employees represented by the Union are laid off, bumped or transferred as a result of layoffs and facility closures involved in this matter prior to July 1, 2012, those employees shall be reinstated and returned to their former positions and made whole in all respects for their losses flowing from the State’s violation of its contractual promises to not lay off employees and to not close facilities prior to July 1, 2012,” the ruling stated.
Benn said the state would also be on the hook for damages paid to employees who went through certain hardships as a result of a layoff. “If as a result of the state’s violation of the cost savings agreements, adversely impacted employees are put in a position of not being able to make timely payments on their homes or cars and are foreclosed upon or evicted or otherwise forced to move from their residences, as part of the make whole relief, the state shall compensate the employees for those losses.”
Union officials said Quinn should halt his plans and avoid the risk of having to pay costly settlements to workers. “This order is unequivocal. Governor Quinn should rescind all threatened layoffs and closures,” Henry Bayer, AFSCME Council 31 executive director, said in a written statement. “Failure to do so will not only harm the vital public services state employees provide, it will expose the state to significant damages for lost wages, benefits and other costs incurred as a result of the governor’s irresponsible actions.”
The ruling included a timeline for the planned layoffs and facility closures, as well as the number of union employees that would be affected:
- Tinley Park — Closure date: November 30, 2011; union layoffs: 143
- Singer Mental Health Center (Rockford) — Closure date: Dec. 31, 2011; union layoffs: 122
- Illinois Youth Center (Murphysboro) — Closure date: December 31, 2011; union layoffs: 97
- Logan Correctional Center (Lincoln) — Closure date: December 31, 2011; union layoffs: 324 Chester Mental Health Center — Closure date: March 31, 2012; Union layoffs: 419
- Jacksonville Developmental Center — Closure date: February 29, 2012; union layoffs: 390
- Jack Mabley Developmental Center (Dixon) — Closure date: February 29, 2012; union layoffs: 162
The arbitrator noted that laid off workers would face a tough jobs climate due to high unemployment rates — which range from 7.8 percent in Jackson County, where the Illinois Youth Center is located, to 13 percent in Winnebago County, home to the Singer Mental Health Center. “Employees who gave concessions to ease the state’s financial difficulties, and in return were promised by the state that they had job security and would not be laid off through June 30, 2012 will, because of the state’s violation of its promises, be thrown into an economy with little chance of finding comparable employment.” Anders Lindall, spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31, said elected officials should avoid creating more jobless Illinoisans. He points to recent incentives Quinn has offered corporations such as Motorola to keep jobs in the state. “If you imagine a plant closure or a business or corporation threatening to leave the state and take 2,000 jobs with them, you would hope that the governor and every other elected official would be there to save those jobs,” Lindall said. “But what we are facing right now is just that situation — state government threatening to throw 2,000 women and men out of work across the state.”
Quinn, who has previously defended the no layoffs deal with AFSCME, has said he has no other options based on the budget that lawmakers approved. He said that under that budget, if he does not skip pay raises, close the facilities and institute layoffs, the state will run out of money before the end of the current fiscal year. “[Lawmakers who approved the budget] knew exactly what they were doing. They knew there would not be enough money to maintain our facilities for the whole fiscal year or maintain our workforce for the whole fiscal year,” Quinn said when he announced the closures. According to the governor, his budget proposal, which called for billions more in spending than the plan he signed, included funding to avoid layoffs and institute pay raises. “This ruling does not change the fact that the money to run all these facilities for the entire year was not appropriated by the General Assembly. You can’t spend money you don’t have,” said a statement issued by Quinn’s office today.
Benn said Quinn’s argument is outside of his realm of consideration. “The statutory, Constitutional and other non-contract arguments raised by the state in which the state seeks to avoid its contractual obligations are not for me as an arbitrator to decide. My function is to interpret the state’s contractual obligations, and those obligations are clear and have been violated. The state’s statutory, Constitutional and other non-contractual arguments are to be resolved by the courts.” Benn predicted a lawsuit and urged any judges who take up the case to decide it quickly, given the state’s timeline for facility closures.
“Arbitrator Benn concedes that he does not have jurisdiction over the Illinois Constitution and statutes that apply to this issue, and both the Constitution and statutes remain to be addressed by the courts. We will seek to stay and vacate the decision while we continue to manage the budget so that core services the people of Illinois depend upon can be provided for the entire year,” said Quinn’s statement.
Hearings on the facility closures begin this week.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Union asks state to slow down on closures
By Jamey Dunn
A union representing public employees is asking lawmakers to slow down on their timeline to consider the closure of several state facilities.
A union representing public employees is asking lawmakers to slow down on their timeline to consider the closure of several state facilities.
According to Gov. Pat Quinn, the budget passed by lawmakers falls
$313.5 million short of paying for state operations through the end of the current fiscal
year. The governor’s proposed solution includes closing seven state
facilities and laying off about 1,900
employees, which he said will save the state about $54.8 million.
But Henry Bayer, executive director of the Council 31 of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the
schedule for hearings before the legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability, which will make recommendations on the proposed closures, would
discourage input from the public. “[T]he administration is intent on
implementing these closures as quickly as possible with as little public
scrutiny as possible. Unfortunately, it appears that COGFA is prepared to
collaborate in this effort to stifle public review and input rather than
seeking to provide an independent review based on the broadest possible public
examination of the facts — as is the clear intent of the law,”
Bayer stated in a letter sent to COGFA members.
A statement from AFSCME says that scheduling a hearing on
the Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford for next Wednesday — giving
the public a week of notice — as well as
scheduling another hearing on the Murphysboro Youth Center in Carbondale on a weekday morning makes it difficult for concerned citizens from
the community and employees of the facilities to attend. AFSCME also complained
that COGFA does not plan to conduct a hearing on the Tinley Park Mental Health Center because the commission already voted in support of closing the
institution in 2009.
AFSCME is asking that hearings be held on nights or
weekends, that two weeks notice is given before any hearings and that the
hearings be held in the same municipality as the facilities being considered
for closure.
Hinsdale Republican Rep. Patricia Bellock, a COGFA co-chair,
said scheduling decisions are based solely on the logistics of trying to
get as many COGFA members to a hearing as possible. She adds that the legally required timeline for a facility closure forces COGFA to act quickly when making
recommendations. “We certainly want to give transparency. The whole reason we
are having theses hearings is so that people can have public comments.”
Bellock, who voted to close the Tinley Park center in 2009, said she understands that things have changed since then, but she said she does not know if COGFA will reverse its decision about holding a new hearing. “We did have the hearing. We had a long hearing on it.”
Bellock said that no matter how soon COGFA makes its
recommendations, the closure of any of the state faculties will take time if it
is to be done right. “It took us over
two years to transition people out of Howe [Developmental Center in Tinley Park.] …. So the governor, I know he feels
financial pressures, but at the same time these are people’s lives and these
are people’s jobs and these are people’s communities.”
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Some advocates say state doesn't need all of its juvenile facilities
By Jamey Dunn
Juvenile justice advocates say that if Gov. Pat Quinn plans to close state facilities, he should consider shuttering some of the state’s juvenile prisons, which they say are far below capacity.
“The numbers do not justify running eight separate facilities for what is essentially [the population of] a high school,” said Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative. According to an analysis of state records by the Juvenile Justice Initiative the average daily population for such youth institutions in the state was 1,113 in fiscal year 2011, down from 1,603 in fiscal year 2005 and 1,192 in fiscal year 2011. The same analysis estimates operation costs for the facilities as $92,257 per bed for fiscal year 2011.
Quinn proposed closing the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro as part of a plan to shut down seven state facilities and lay off more than 1,900 in state employees. Quinn said that the estimated $54.8 million in savings the plan would produce are needed to fund “core” services through the rest of the fiscal year. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that Murphysboro is the one to close,” Clarke said. She said the state needs conduct a review of all the facilities to determine which would make sense to shut down. Clarke said other states, such as California, Texas, Ohio and New York are doing just that. “Eventually, states around the country have decided that this isn’t sustainable,” she said. “This really is a time for the state to take a comprehensive look at the juvenile detention system and shift those resources, as other states are doing, into community based alternatives. … They’re shifting some of the savings to local communities to come up with their own approach that is based on local values.”
Clarke said some money from the closures would need to be filtered into community based alternatives to deal with youth offenders, but she said such closures would result in savings for the state. “There’s no value added by spending $90,000 a year on a kid versus $4,000 to $5,000 to $6,000 [needed for community programs].”Clarke said the argument really comes down to what gives the most bang for the buck. “The outcomes [of incarceration] are terrible. We know that half the kids will be back in juvenile prisons in three years.” Advocates say that the public perception that all kids who are incarcerated are violent offenders is inaccurate. They say multiple parole violations often cause judges to throw up their hands and send kids away. “A series of probation violations, no matter how frustrating, is not the kind of violent act that alone could arguably justify this kind of intense incarceration and this kind of expense,” Clarke said.
However, union officials say the proposed closures are unnecessary and would hurt those in need of services, as well as harming the communities where they are located. Anders Lindall, spokesperson for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said state agencies may not have been given enough authority to spend to get them though the fiscal year, but that is different from the state just not having the money. “It’s not a matter of agencies running out of money, and it’s not a matter of anything looming imminently.” He said lawmakers could pass supplemental appropriations, giving agencies the power to spend more and fully fund their work through Fiscal Year 2012. “It is very common for such a supplemental appropriations to be passed. It’s a very run-of-the mill budget management tool, and it can save these jobs and services.”
Lindall said advocates who are rallying around the potential closure of state facilities — such as some from the community that supports developmentally disabled residents — are “extremists” jumping at a chance to fulfill long held political goals. “It’s really unfortunate that a special interest can try to use a budget crisis for their ideological ends,” he said. He said many so-called community care facilities and programs are overwhelmed, pay low wages to workers, see high workforce turnover rates and simply cannot meet the virtually round-the-clock needs of some individuals currently in state institutions. Lindall said of Quinn’s plan: “It poses a dire threat to services for some of the most vulnerable people in Illinois, individuals with profound mental health crises, and the safety of the state’s prisons, in addition to 2,000 jobs.”
Clarke acknowledged that many communities do not want to give up the jobs that state institutions bring. She said expanded community programs will create jobs, and some facilities should be retrofitted and repurposed. The John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group, suggests transferring the Murphysboro facility to the Department of Corrections as a means to ease overcrowding of adult prisons.
Clarke said ultimately, economic concerns are not a good reason to keep youth prisons — which she said are wasting tax dollars on inefficient treatment methods — in business. “Funding for juvenile justice is a limited amount of money, and we want to use it in the best way possible,” Clarke said. “Your jobs should not be built on the back of human misery. That should not be our job development plan.”
Juvenile justice advocates say that if Gov. Pat Quinn plans to close state facilities, he should consider shuttering some of the state’s juvenile prisons, which they say are far below capacity.
“The numbers do not justify running eight separate facilities for what is essentially [the population of] a high school,” said Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative. According to an analysis of state records by the Juvenile Justice Initiative the average daily population for such youth institutions in the state was 1,113 in fiscal year 2011, down from 1,603 in fiscal year 2005 and 1,192 in fiscal year 2011. The same analysis estimates operation costs for the facilities as $92,257 per bed for fiscal year 2011.
Quinn proposed closing the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro as part of a plan to shut down seven state facilities and lay off more than 1,900 in state employees. Quinn said that the estimated $54.8 million in savings the plan would produce are needed to fund “core” services through the rest of the fiscal year. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that Murphysboro is the one to close,” Clarke said. She said the state needs conduct a review of all the facilities to determine which would make sense to shut down. Clarke said other states, such as California, Texas, Ohio and New York are doing just that. “Eventually, states around the country have decided that this isn’t sustainable,” she said. “This really is a time for the state to take a comprehensive look at the juvenile detention system and shift those resources, as other states are doing, into community based alternatives. … They’re shifting some of the savings to local communities to come up with their own approach that is based on local values.”
Clarke said some money from the closures would need to be filtered into community based alternatives to deal with youth offenders, but she said such closures would result in savings for the state. “There’s no value added by spending $90,000 a year on a kid versus $4,000 to $5,000 to $6,000 [needed for community programs].”Clarke said the argument really comes down to what gives the most bang for the buck. “The outcomes [of incarceration] are terrible. We know that half the kids will be back in juvenile prisons in three years.” Advocates say that the public perception that all kids who are incarcerated are violent offenders is inaccurate. They say multiple parole violations often cause judges to throw up their hands and send kids away. “A series of probation violations, no matter how frustrating, is not the kind of violent act that alone could arguably justify this kind of intense incarceration and this kind of expense,” Clarke said.
However, union officials say the proposed closures are unnecessary and would hurt those in need of services, as well as harming the communities where they are located. Anders Lindall, spokesperson for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said state agencies may not have been given enough authority to spend to get them though the fiscal year, but that is different from the state just not having the money. “It’s not a matter of agencies running out of money, and it’s not a matter of anything looming imminently.” He said lawmakers could pass supplemental appropriations, giving agencies the power to spend more and fully fund their work through Fiscal Year 2012. “It is very common for such a supplemental appropriations to be passed. It’s a very run-of-the mill budget management tool, and it can save these jobs and services.”
Lindall said advocates who are rallying around the potential closure of state facilities — such as some from the community that supports developmentally disabled residents — are “extremists” jumping at a chance to fulfill long held political goals. “It’s really unfortunate that a special interest can try to use a budget crisis for their ideological ends,” he said. He said many so-called community care facilities and programs are overwhelmed, pay low wages to workers, see high workforce turnover rates and simply cannot meet the virtually round-the-clock needs of some individuals currently in state institutions. Lindall said of Quinn’s plan: “It poses a dire threat to services for some of the most vulnerable people in Illinois, individuals with profound mental health crises, and the safety of the state’s prisons, in addition to 2,000 jobs.”
Clarke acknowledged that many communities do not want to give up the jobs that state institutions bring. She said expanded community programs will create jobs, and some facilities should be retrofitted and repurposed. The John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group, suggests transferring the Murphysboro facility to the Department of Corrections as a means to ease overcrowding of adult prisons.
Clarke said ultimately, economic concerns are not a good reason to keep youth prisons — which she said are wasting tax dollars on inefficient treatment methods — in business. “Funding for juvenile justice is a limited amount of money, and we want to use it in the best way possible,” Clarke said. “Your jobs should not be built on the back of human misery. That should not be our job development plan.”
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