1. - Kevin Fanning - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:26 pm:

   Nice job on the blog today Mike. Way to carry the banner.




2. - Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:29 pm:

   –”Those representatives stuck to the “raise taxes” line instead of granting concessions, such as pay freezes or furloughs, that would have allowed the pain to be shared and minimized the impact on individuals”.–

   Well now, that’s a new spin if I ever read one. Really. Union Reps to blame? These editors do realize right, that union reps make no final decisions for members and that members get the final vote?

   As if a pay freeze and/or furloughs would save the budget. As if prison guards will be short staffed and endangered because of AFSCME. As if it’s been AFSCME’s fault the prison is already understaffed and dangerous. Pfft.

   Go ahead editors, give it your best shot to blame this mess on AFSCME and spin it your best to make it look that if workers would just break that contract all would be swell. I feel a headache coming on.




3. - Mike Murray - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:31 pm:

   I learned from the best. :)




4. - Anonymous45 - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:33 pm:

   You don’t have to convince me that the GA did not do it’s job and forced Quinn’s hand to make the cuts…let’s hope no one forgets at the ballot box next year…Is the GA gonna take furlough days/give back a part of their pay raise or salary? Didn’t think so…scoundrels!




5. - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:38 pm:

   I hope “the best” is ante-ing up some moola for this work!
   By the search for the cause needs to start on Wall Street in the fall of 2007.
   No one really escapes “blame” including the media who was ignoring the predatory lending disaster —let’s not even hint there was a monetary link between real estate/banking ads and the media silence. Thanks for being the “watchdog”
   Most believe the legislature would have never finished voting for cuts.
   Perhaps when Capt Fax returns we can start awarding “WatchDog Awards” for “alert” media action.




6. - Merit Comp Slave - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:40 pm:

   Cindy my dear surely you can see that foregoing a raise (like I’ve done 5 of last 6 years) and taking furlough days might help save a few more union jobs, rather than laying them off? I’d be happy to take furlough days to save a co-worker’s job - would forego a raise too if I ever got one. If the members all vote to not make those concessions then we shouldn’t have to listen to them whining about the big bad governor who cost them their job




7. - Gregor - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:44 pm:

   I read about the incredible amount of forced overtime these prison staff are made to do, because they are under-staffed. Then I see all those cuts and I have to wonder if someone is literally going to me maimed or killed soon because there are not enough guards to run a prison safely. Anybody here with a background at IDOC, please, what is the truth: enough staff or dangerously under?




8. - Macbeth - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:55 pm:

   Once the union gives away hard-won concessions, then there’s not much point in the union or a union contract.

   As much as I find it difficult to read about the union sacrificing their own — ACSCME’s position does make sense.

   During flush times the state never goes back to the unions and offers *more*. So I’m not sure why the union should be required to not only concede during regular negotiations — and then concede again apart from regular negotiations. It makes no sense and weakens the whole the idea of bargaining for the collective.




9. - Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:58 pm:

   Nice try Merit Comp Slave, I’m all for the buddy buddy system too, but don’t think many members will vote to spare a non-union job.

   You might also wanna seek a bit closer to actual walking talking human headcount in this. Lots of jobs funded but not filled. Clarifications need to be made. And as always union will listen to all proposals and impact.

   Doubt you’ll find alot willing to go into blind talks and buy the spin of ’shared sacrafice’. I believe I’ve also heard jobs are gone no matter what. Now, that’s a real good way to start out, ya think?

   You will find members are not a disagreeable lot, but very few will chance weaken what they’ve fought for all their life. We did not cause this and a bit of a concession will not solve it, I don’t think many will like the angle of ‘if it weren’t for the greedy AFSCME ‘ tactic the state would be fine.

   You won’t guilt me, but you can try all you please. And as always I speak for myself in my posting.




10. - Ghost - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:58 pm:

    Cindy_Lou, henry bayer from AFSCME refused to negotiate those points. It was not voted down by the union memebers. But if you like, AFSCME seniority employees would rather send new employees home with no means of support then help resolve a fiscal crisis by agreeing to temp pay freezes and furlough days.

    Whetehr it is the head of AFSCME, AFSCME reps or AFSCME memebrs, the insitance on getting a combination of COLAS (raise in july and another in January of around 4%) plus step increases (4.5%) and refusal to consider furlough days means they share responsiblity for employees losing their jobs due to lack of fund.




11. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:10 pm:

    I thought the union contract stipulates that before any layoffs take place, all CONTRACTUAL workers must be sent packing. Many, many ‘retired’ only to turn around and get paid contractually. Nauseating. Where the hell is the ‘fumigation’ that Quinn blabbered about?




12. - Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:14 pm:

    Bargaining meeting was held a while ago and attended by the locals. Why say that’s not so? No one was denied representation and there was nothing to take back for a vote. Don’t mislead here.




13. - Raymond Moley - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:21 pm:

    Cindy Lou and Macbeth….The last two AFSCME contacts provided compensation increases far above the private sector and are unsustainable. Let’s look at the annual base pay increases of the last two AFSCME contracts for a new DOC correctional officer (RC-006-09) starting with the July 1st, 2004 contract start date. On the July 1, 2005, the 1st year anniversary, the C/Os base pay increased by 8.7%, 2nd year up 20.7% above the starting Jul 2004 salary, 3rd year -30%, 4th year-40.8%, and on July 1, 2009 the C/Os base salary increased 54.4% from his starting salary while the CPI-W was up only 12.9% over the five years. On July 1, 2011, the 7 year increase will be 77.3%. Gov. Quinn has every right to ask for AFSCME to open up the contact for wage concessions




14. - Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:21 pm:

    Steps increases stop at a certain point and I think you’ll find few lower level members have gotten them in years. It’s not like the state has been hiring new union members left and right over the last 8 to 9 years. You will fiind the large majority get only bargained wage increases.




15. - Sick of it - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:22 pm:

    I see no reason for AFSCME to give in to what Quinn demands. At this point he has proven he cannot be trusted and since he changes his mind constantly who’s to say that if the union give in to this he won’t lay those people off anyway!




16. - Ricketts Field - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:28 pm:

    Lack of governing by “The Govenor” for over 6 years is the major blame for this budget mess. With no strong leadership at the executive level, the agencies under the Gov’s control developed their own little fiefdoms, and did not manage except to stroke their own egos and dot their Ts and cross their Is (said backwards on purpose) in a semblance of busy work designed to be all form and no substance. Until the agencies are held accountable, Illinois will continue to be mired in debt.




17. - Downstate weed chewing hick - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:28 pm:

    What about moving Gitmo prisoners to the max wing at Thomson and offsetting some of these cuts with Fed money to house them?




18. - Lawmakers to balme - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:35 pm:

    Huh….1 Billion in cuts…How bout this

    250 Million for the stratton Building
    500 Million in Member Initiatives
    Cut the State Fair…should we really have a State Fair when the State is in a Financial Disaster

    Thats just for starters…how bout the legistlature getting their act together and reforming the medicaid system and pension system along with actually making payments into the pension system (which got us into the situation to begin with).

    Never going tosolve the issue until you deal with the issue.




19. - Raymond Moley - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:37 pm:

    Cindy Lou….”I think you’ll find few lower level members have gotten them (step increases) in years”….Not true Cindy Lou…..Over 50% of DOC’s union employees receive step increases each year. In addition, when merit comp positions move into the union, former merit comp employees are getting increases of 20 to 50% base pay increases.




20. - Niles Township - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:44 pm:

    The overwheling majority of blame goes to the GA, and its leadership, for getting us here. They have been ignoring their responsibilities for years. This problem has been brewing for more than 10 years. Let’s see, who is the only one who has been around for that time period?




21. - Anonymous45 - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:48 pm:

    Um, Could it be Michael Madigan?…




22. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:52 pm:

    Circular is correct about Wall Street; our economic problems, and hence state budget nightmares everywhere because of down tax revenues start with them.

    They bet on an ever-expanding housing bubble to cover for risky (and very profitable) loans and wildly high loan to asset ratios.

    Once housing values popped, it was Katie Bar the Door for the North American and European economies.




23. - Pelon - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:56 pm:

    The voters of the State of Illinois are the ultimate ones to blame for the budget mess. For too long, we’ve voted for politicians who promise low taxes and increased spending. The sad thing is that we will re-elect the majority of these politicians in the next election cycle.




24. - Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:59 pm:

    And all AFSCME memebers are not DOC workers, can’t put us all in the same boat, Ray.

    No matter what you think of the AFSCME contract it was bargained in good faith and then went to arbitration. It was a fair contract whether you agree or not.

    And the mcs moved into union are again, not your nornal frontliner. For example in DNR a PSA moved in and titled SS is looking at a large range of wage depending on time served. AFSCME is also not their union.

    Ya don’t get to blame AFSCME for all state workers nor can you single out one small sector of members and compare them to all. The majority of AFSCME workers are frontline peons making 33 to 50 thousand. Asked to raise taxes on people making 50 thousnad sent horror through the holdout Republicans, yet no problem asking stateworkers to break their contract and make much larger sacrafices.

    I have things to do, but you all continue on




25. - Macbeth - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:01 pm:

    The jibber-jabber about union employees and the so-called “woe” AFSCME is causing the state is pointless.

    We have the lowest state employee head count per capita. (We’ve said this many times here, but folks seem to think the way to fiscal sobriety is to continue with state employee layoffs.)

    I’m glad the union contract is a good one — and I’m glad the union was able to negotiate a strong contract. This constant comparison between the public sector and the private sector is misleading — and serves only to get folks fired up for no reason. The sector jobs aren’t comparable. State workers are shouldering a far greater burden of labor than their so-called “private sector” counterparts. So this constant refrain of: “Well, that’s not what folks in the private sector get …” doesn’t acknowledge the fact that because the state headcount is so low, the remaining workers do an enormous amount of work (and put in an enormous of expensive overtime.) They *shouldn’t* get paid what their so-called private sector counterparts get paid. If they did, they’d not be receiving a fair wage for their labor. (Lots of folks will disagree here — but I’ve seen both sectors, and I feel that this is truly the case. Public workers must fight — and must have strong contracts — in order to be paid fairly for their considerable labor.)

    The way to fiscal sobriety is to look elsewhere for cost cutting savings and be glad you have a strong (but small) state workforce able to handle the increasingly complex demands of a state in dire straits.

    And as I say above — it’s only going to get worse for the state workers. There’s no real relief — especially if the GA refuses to do what must be done and simply raise taxes. We know taxes will be raised. We know this. The question is when and how much.




26. - Capitol View - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:03 pm:

    Lawmakers to blame — the Stratton Building and other Member projects are one time only bond funded projects. You cannot pay for operations with bond funds - that kind of action is not bondable; which is why there was a ruse this year about bonding for pension fund payments when the dollars are actually going to human services operations. Bad trend. Terrible public policy, forgivable on a one year only basis due to the severity of the current crisis.

    No one has answered Cindy Lou on IDOC impacts. Press reports state that all employees at prisons who are being laid off already have that info — let the bumping begin, through transfers to other facilities if there are openings (probably no openings at this time). But we still have the issue that long term line staff earn more than new recruits, so bumping the newer recruits as required by universal union policy saves the state little and keeps the higher income staff on overtime assignments. Some of the central office IDOC cuts may be known by the end of this week. But everyone over there is worried abou t the second round of cutbacks, if fiscally needed.

    Who to blame for all of this? The Speaker and Blago butted horns for six years on who is calling the shots in Illinois state government. We have leadership more focused on politics than governing, so the crisis continues post-Blago.
    Quinn is the new kid on the block in terms of excersizing actual power, so the ongoing blame has to go to the General Assembly, which means the Speaker. He is the one official who can block anything, and everyone has to dance to his schedule and his script. But the rest of the legislature is also to blame for putting up with that power concentration.




27. - Master Plan - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:12 pm:

    As a MC employee I have not received a raise 4 of the last 7 FY and will not receive one this year. You wonder why MC people are seeking union protection. When the GA skipped a year of raises, the next year they lumped two years together. When is the GA going to make up for the years I did not get a raise. Yeah I will hold my breath and wait. :)




28. - Merit Comp Slave - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:17 pm:

    I certainly don’t think AFSCME should bear the brunt of the burden. I think every single employee regardless of representation or not should pay the same price. You say if the union agrees to concessions they’ll never get them back - wrong again. Maybe not as fast but it won’t be long when economy improves they’ll still get their contracts with guaranteed increases, just as they do now. Again, I just wish we could all be in this together, despite whose fault it is, for the benefit of state employees as a group. I agree unions fight hard for what they get and don’t begrudge that (I used to be in the union), but those of us who aren’t in the union work hard also, just without any comparable benefits or increases. If my husband gets laid off, our entire family sacrifices, even though he may be the main breadwinner.




29. - Merit Comp Slave - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:19 pm:

    Right on Capitol View - Madigan is most powerful person in state politics no matter who is Governor. Start there folks




30. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 2:32 pm:

    Any word on the fate of the Blago 3000–the 3000 employees appointed by Blago and inherited by Quinn. As far as I know, Quinn only fumigated a few of them…less than 10, I would say, and the rest continue to receive their six figure salaries and do very little work, certainly little work that is of value to the taxpayers. I guess Quinn wants to make sure they and the politicos or relatives who got them these jobs vote for him in the primary and make large contributions to his campaign chest, directly or indirectly. Quinn has yet to prove he can fire anybody. September 30 is two months away. Does anybody seriously believe he will lay any employees off. I say, he’ll eliminate a bunch of funded, vacant positions (and probably increase the number of funded vacancies to plump up his numbers) and keep everybody. It’s wrong to scare people with the loss of their jobs but it is also wrong to pretend you are going to lay people off when you aren’t in your quest to get a regressive tax increase.




31. - Oh Pluuuuuze!!!! - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 3:19 pm:

    ==You don’t have to convince me that the GA did not do it’s job and forced Quinn’s hand to make the cuts…let’s hope no one forgets at the ballot box next year…===

    Anonymous45,
    Forced Quinn???? You don’t think some cutting was necessary on the heels of 6 years of gross over-spending and malfesence? Quinn did not have to sign the budget, but he did. So , he was not forced into doing anything here. He said for weeks that he would not. And so, why did he did he sign it? Why did he sign a budget that worsens the fiscal situation in Illinois, and only makes it all the more likely that more painful cutting will have to be done? Why did he do that?
    The GA forced his hand? Or he is too incompetent to be a governor? Surely he had to have known that cuts needed to be made. And, on Friday when he mocked the GA by saying they wanted me to “cut, cut, cut” what did he mean in doing that?

    Let’s face it whatever the faults of the GA are, and they have many, Quinn is STILL NOT a good governor or worthy of being elected to the post in his own right, as he has demonstrated.




32. - Anonymous45 - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 3:45 pm:

    OP: The last time I checked, the IL legislature is responsible for crafting a budget, not the Governor…take a deep breath and tell me what other choices he was left with…no budget and then no services at all after July 15th?




33. - springpatch87 - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 3:57 pm:

    From AFSCME’s website

    GOVERNOR PAT QUINN held a July 31 news conference to discuss his plan for managing the FY 10 state budget. The late Friday announcement did provide a few more details on the impact of budget cuts, but many more questions remain unanswered.

    Quinn’s remarks shed light on how he intends to allocate dollars from a budget where most funding was in lump sums–not specific line items–and most agency appropriations were far lower than the governor requested. The July 31 announcement indicated how the lump sum dollars will be appropriated and how he intends to allocate cuts.

    In general, Gov. Quinn used discretionary spending to increase funding to grant lines that had been previously cut in half. He did not use that spending to improve state staffing.

    Further, the governor gave agencies some guidance as to how to make over $3.6 billion in cuts compared to his introduced budget. Some specific cuts were outlined, and the governor indicated decisions are still being made on how to manage other cuts. For example, Quinn outlined the number of employee layoffs by agency, but did not provide details on how the layoffs would be implemented.

    Of the $3.6 billion cut, some $300 million were cuts to personal services. Very few agencies were left untouched by such reductions, but not all agencies have layoff targets. A total of 2,552 state employees are targeted for layoff–a number that seems to include previously announced layoffs.

    Those layoff numbers break down as follows:
    CMS 19
    DCEO 12
    DNR 39
    DJJ 105
    DOC 1073
    DHS 866
    HFS 66
    REVENUE 69
    STATE POLICE 303
    Total 2552

    The personal services reductions assume that most state agencies will impose 12 unpaid furlough days before the end of the year. The governor has not yet formally asked our union to discuss furloughs or a wage freeze, but he did talk to the media about both demands.

    Quinn’s plan also underfunds the state group insurance program by $600 million. This will cause payment delays that may affect provider participation, and will certainly be another hardship for AFSCME members.

    Likewise, there is no doubt that if enacted, these layoffs will cause pain to AFSCME members, diminish the services they provide and harm all who rely on those services. We must make clear to legislators that the pain is real, and the only relief is a significant tax increase.




34. - Niles Township - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 4:24 pm:

    Quinn is STILL NOT a good governor or worthy of being elected to the post in his own right, as he has demonstrated.

    ————————–

    I’m not as certain of that statement as you are. He came out strong out of the gate, was a little weaker for a couple of months, and then strengthened again in my book. When alot of people are upset with you, it means you tend to be doign the right thing. I’m willing to give him one real term of his own. I’d rather have an honest man than what we have the last several years.




35. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 4:59 pm:

    I see that DCFS, a major pork farm, escaped any cuts at all. The director must be a Quinn buddy.

    The upper ranks of DCFS are heavily larded with political appointees, including relatives of serving state pols, and these folks do little or no work. Most of them make well over $100k and they do very little work, mostly make work. The agency maintains multiple offices with unnecessary duplicative mangement structures, especially in Cook County, solely for the purpose of justifying a number of highly paid, appointed administrators. Their motto is: if there is a DCFS building, it needs 15 or 20 highly paid administrators to run it, even if there is not enough work for them to do.

    Quinn is protecting a bunch of political hacks by citing his fear that the ACLU will reopen its lawsuit. However, the lawsuit dealt with direct service caseloads and direct services to children, but did not dictate how many (politically connected) administrators the agency should keep in the financial clover.

    Typical Quinn–using kids to protect a group of truly useless and unnecessary administrative fat at the state’s child welfare agency.




36. - always anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 6:05 pm:

    why are employees being laid off when double exempt employees are still around? get rid of the Blago and Ryan hacks - fumigate now.




37. - Ricketts Field - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 7:18 pm:

    =why are employee being laid off when doube exempt employees are still around?=
    good question!! to save their phoney baloney jobs and target those that know they are phoney baloney.




38. - state employee - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:29 pm:

    I don’t know if I’ll lose my job, and need to re-sign a lease right now, or not. I’m deciding against it, and downsizing to a month-to-month shared housing situation. I’m also not doing any discretionary spending. Great work, GA geniuses (led by MADigan)!! I’m adding to the state’s economic woes and downward spiral now out of necessity b/c of my job insecurity.




39. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:43 pm:

    I finally listened to Carol and I didn’t find all of her interviewees that persuasive, particularly
    the guy from the Chinese immigrant aid society. I thought the feds were in charge of refugee programs and I wonder if all of the federal monies are being properly applied for. I also wonder why in the middle of a recession, I should be paying for education and training and citizenship training for Chinese immigrants–or any immigrants for that matter. Cut that grant to be bone. Let the immigrant associations help out–
    many have pots of money sitting around.




40. - state employee - Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:52 pm:

    By the way, Human Service Caseworkers now have min 1,000 and over 2,000 CASES EACH PERSON. No hiring for over 2 years and people leaving and retiring, and demand for medical and food stamps up dramatically in this “deep recession” really depression. What will the caseload be after the layoffs? Maybe the state will stop receiving federal money b/c they can’t keep up w/ processing the food stamps and medicaid timely. Nice work GA Geniuses (Madigan)!! Well done!!




41. - Anon - Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 10:42 am:

    Clean house and throw them all out in the next election.




42. - Anon - Wednesday, Aug 5, 09 @ 9:37 pm:

    Raise income taxes temporarily to help close the
    deficit and save jobs!

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