Category: State Budget

The new contract comes after months of negotiations between AFSCME and the Pritzker administration—and nearly four years of conflict with former governor Bruce Rauner, who walked out on contract talks in January 2016.

AFSCME never quit battling for justice since ousted governor Bruce Rauner illegally froze employee step increases on July 1, 2015. Finally, state of Illinois employees are back in step and will get their back wages by the end of this September.

In an extraordinarily challenging time, AFSCME members succeeded in sharing their story and fighting for continued progress for the adults and youth they serve every day.

Early this morning, Governor JB Pritzker’s administration and AFSCME Council 31 reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. Terms will be released after union members have the opportunity to review and vote on the tentative agreement.

More than 500 delegates from AFSCME local unions across the state braved single digit temperatures, wind and snow to gather in Springfield for the biennial AFSCME Legislative Conference to set the union’s 2019 legislative agenda.

The Pritzker administration has told state agencies to put employees on their rightful steps no later than April 1.

The Supreme Court entered an order granting "in part" the State's motion for an extension to decide whether to appeal the appellate court’s finding that Bruce Rauner had wrongly broken off state contract negotiations based on a false claim of impasse.

Through their union, AFSCME, human services employees spoke out against a push by the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) to close its office—known as a family community resource center—in Havana. Now the decision is being revisited.

Bruce Rauner is out the door. That’s good news for the countless Illinois citizens who were grievously harmed by his vengeance politics, especially the thousands of state employees who were the prime targets of his animus.

The US Supreme Court’s majority sided with the super-rich in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 on June 27. But AFSCME members know that our freedom to have a strong voice on the job is under assault—and they’re pledging to stick with their union.