July 2, 2009
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HEADLINES
Resolved: no peace for lawmakers until they pass a fair budget The fight for a fair budget is coming down to the wire, with thousands of demonstrators meeting the General Assembly at the Capitol as it returned June 23 for a special session. “It is critical that every AFSCME member join the fight for a fair budget with enough revenue,” Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer said. “If the General Assembly doesn’t pass a tax increase by June 30, essential services will be devastated by cuts, thousands of state employees will be laid off and many IDOC, DHS facilities shuttered. Community developmental disability agencies will have their budget slashed, forcing bed closures and layoffs.” Union members are communicating with their state representatives and senators, vowing that no lawmaker will have a quiet moment until they solve the budget crisis. All members are urged to join in this all-out drive to save jobs and services. | more AFSCME issues strong statement opposing Daley threat to lay off city of Chicago employees On July 1, Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer issued a strong statement pushing back against the insistence of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley that frontline city workers represented by AFSCME should accept either a 10 percent pay cut or hundreds of layoffs. "Last week AFSCME members who work for the city of Chicago voted by an overwhelming margin to reject Mayor Daley’s contention that the only way to close the city's budget gap is by forcing all frontline employees to take what amounts to a 10 percent pay cut over the next two years," Bayer said. "AFSCME members are among the lowest-paid city workers, many live from paycheck to paycheck, and they simply cannot afford a pay cut of that magnitude." See inside for the complete statement. | more Fight to save Howe continues: Parents, residents rally to save their home As Gov. Pat Quinn mulls his decision on whether to keep Howe Developmental Center open, the people most directly affected aren’t sitting still. More than 200 residents, staff and family rallied on June 27 in an effort to influence the governor’s decision, waving signs that said, "Don't Foreclose Our Home" and "We Choose Howe." The closure would displace 350 residents. Hundreds of AFSCME members would be forced to transfer to other facilities or take layoffs. Council 31 Deputy Director Roberta Lynch spoke at the rally, saying that “Gov. Quinn should listen to the residents and their families. Howe is the home they are choosing – and their choice should be honored.” | more
AFSCME mobilizes opposition as COGFA ponders IYC Pere Marquette closure In a misguided effort to save a few bucks, the Department of Juvenile Justice has proposed shutting down a facility that operates its most successful program for young women – a move that could eventually cost the state millions as youths who might have been turned around return to the juvenile system or move up to the adult prison system. At a Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability hearing to consider the pros and cons of closing DJJ’s Pere Marquette Youth Center, AFSCME members and Council 31 staff, public officials, youth advocates and two former residents of the facility (both of who are currently attending college) voiced opposition to the closure, with dozens of AFSCME members from a variety of agencies there to support them. | more Unions beat back pension, health-care cuts In a remarkable demonstration of unity and determination, AFSCME joined with the teachers’ unions (IFT and IEA) in an intensive grassroots lobbying campaign that beat back an all-out assault by big business on public employee pension benefits. Seizing on the state’s current fiscal woes as a cover for their anti-government crusade, the Civic Federation and other corporate forces sought to create the impression that public employee pensions were excessively high and a drain on the state budget. Union members fought back, turning out in droves for regional legislative forums and deluging legislators with phone calls and mail. After months of intensive lobbying, when the final bell rung, all of the pension cutbacks were off the table. | more Legislation leads to agreement restricting forced overtime HB1369, AFSCME’s legislation to force a total ban on mandatory overtime in state prisons, mental health and developmental centers and vets home had strong backing in the state Senate, where it passed overwhelmingly. But the bill ran into resistance in the House because of opposition from Gov. Quinn. Sen. Mike Frerichs and Rep. Emily McAsey, the measure’s sponsors, asked AFSCME and the governor’s office to try to work out a compromise. The result was a landmark agreement reached in the final days of the legislative session. | more
Council 31 officer elected to SURS Board of Trustees Dorinda Miller, president of AFSCME Local 3700 and an executive vice president of Council 31, has been elected to the State University Retirement System Board of Trustees, along with five of the six AFSCME-backed candidates. Jeffrey R. Beaulieu and Antonio A. Vasquez join Miller as active perticipant members, with Mitch Vogel and John Engstrom taking the annuitant positions. AFSCME joined with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Illinois Education Association and the Service Employees in backing the six-person slate.
Legislative session ends with mixed outcomes on AFSCME bills The General Assembly sent several bills to governor in the just-ended legislative session that will benefit AFSCME members, including protections against MRSA, fairer mileage reimbursement rules and expanded union rights. But other important measures, such as privatization restrictions, limits on facility closures ran into roadblocks. Click "more" for a report on the final status of many of the bills important to AFSCME members. | more AFSCME ads urge legislators to 'consider the consequences.' Some in the state legislature and the media have claimed the state can cut its way out of its budget crisis. But the reality is that state services have already been cut to the bone. In fact, the frontline state workforce has decreased by 25% over the past eight years. And vital services on which Illinois citizens depend have been stretched to the limit. Click more for a link to view and listen to a series of ads produced by AFSCME that depict some of the negative consequences if the General Assembly fails to act to pass a tax increase. | more Economists: States should spend in recession even if it means raising taxes "Progressive tax reform is key to both resolving the state’s budget deficit in a manner that will shorten the current recession and making the tax burden fairer in Illinois," according to Ralph Martire, director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, an Illinois policy think tank. In his newspaper column, Martire cites the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. He says Stiglitz has shown that "when confronting a budget shortfall during a recession, economic theory and evidence clearly show that maintaining or enhancing state spending is significantly better than balancing the deficit with spending cuts, even if it means raising taxes progressively." Click "more" for a link to the entire article. | more
Nurses advance legislative battle for safe staffing Even as they continue their long fight to form a union, nurses from Resurrection Health Care hospitals have taken the lead in a legislative campaign to set nurse staffing at safe levels in every Illinois hospital. Nurses from around the state have joined in the lobbying effort to win passage of SB224 and HB485, a measure that would limit the number of patients each nurse is assigned to care for in Illinois hospitals. It would also provide for nurse input into staffing plans. | more
Employee Free Choice Act placed before Congress A bill to help remove some of the barriers employers set up in the path of workers who want to form a union was introduced on March 10 in the U.S. House and Senate. Introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act will trigger one of the fiercest legislative battles in recent memory, as employer groups and anti-union forces spend hundreds of millions to defeat the bill. To battle the lies and distortions that are being used against them, unions and their allies have organized a grassroots campaign. | more |
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