Nearly 30,000 Illinois state employees will begin voting on whether to authorize their union leadership to initiate a first-ever strike against the state of Illinois Monday, according to the Champaign News-Gazette.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents 38,000 state employees in Illinois, have been stuck in a deadlock with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner over the terms of a new contract that has been under negotiation since July 2015.
The vote, which takes place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 19, is the latest attempt by union officials to pressure the governor to give into additional demands.
AFSCME leaders have outlined a series of demands that would cost the state an additional $3 billion in wage and benefit increases, according to IllinoisPolicy.org.
Demands include a raise for workers, a platinum-level health care plan with little cost to the workers, and overtime pay starting at 37.5 hours instead of the standard 40 hours.
Rauner wants to freeze the salaries of state workers, who are the highest paid in the country when adjusted for the cost of living, according to the NW Herald. He is proposing that workers receive a healthcare plan that matches up with what they are paying (Bronze plan instead of platinum).
The labor dispute between Rauner and the state’s largest public employees union has been going ever since the Republican businessman swept into office in 2014. The union’s previous contract expired July 1, 2015, and a potential strike by state employees has loomed like a dark cloud over Springfield ever since.
The battle heated up in May, when Rauner vetoed a bill that would have sent any unresolved labor negotiations between AFSCME and the administration to arbitration. Rauner said at the time the bill was “promoted by AFSCME to remove him from bargaining and replace him with an ‘unelected, labor-friendly arbitrator who can single-handedly impose the union’s $3 billion demand on the taxpayers.’”
Rauner described the union’s demands as unsustainable, arguing taxpayers cannot afford AFSCME’s “unreasonable demands.” The governor said his offer is fair to both the taxpayers and AFSCME employees. His offer includes performance bonuses of up to 8 percent of a member’s salary, as well as additional health care options.
Send Tips to ted@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.