OTM JAN 04 - AFSCME Council 31
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OTM JAN 04 - AFSCME Council 31
ON THE 1 1 #138 • APRIL 2011 Illinois Council 31—American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees—AFL-CIO Chicago , IL PAID Permit No. 112 U.S. Postage Non-Profit Org Wisconsin workers lead battle to preserve American Dream 2 On the Move April 2011 DIRECTOR’S REPORT On the Move Collective bargaining: Defend it or lose it AFSCME Illinois On the Move is published 8 times annually by Illinois Public Employees Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. Send correspondence to: [email protected] or: AFSCME, On the Move, 205 N. Michigan Ave., 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60601 Henry Bayer, Executive Director Roberta Lynch, Deputy Director Linc Cohen, Editor Dolores Wilber, Designer Attacks on unions won’t stop until we stop them n states all across the country we are witnessing unprecedented assaults on the basic union rights of public employees. I BY H E N R Y B AY E R EACH ONE OF US MUST FIGHT BACK WITH EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT. w From New Hampshire in the East to Oklahoma in the West, from Wisconsin in the North to Florida in the South, Republican governors backed by their party’s legislators have launched attacks not simply to cut pay and benefits, but to severely restrict, and in some cases outright eliminate, the right to union representation. These politicians claim their proposals are about attempts to balance their budgets. But that lie was exposed when Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker, who couldn’t muster a quorum to vote on a budget bill, stripped his legislation of all budget issues, then passed and signed a bill that wipes out public employees’ bargaining rights. If you think it’s a coincidence that this war against workers’ rights is being launched simultaneously in so many states, guess again. This is a well-coordinated campaign with a clear agenda: • Weaken or eradicate public-sector unions. With union membership in the private sector down to 7 percent of the workforce, public workers now constitute a majority of union members in this country. When it comes to fighting for working families, no one can match the labor movement. Whether it’s the preservation of Social Security, the guarantee of affordable health care, or quality public services, organized labor is the backbone of the effort. If the power of public employee unions can be undermined by abrogating bargaining rights (and outlawing dues checkoff), unions can be eliminated as an impediment to the triumph of the corporate agenda to gut Social Security, slash Medicare, weaken worker safety laws and loosen regulations so business can run even more wildly roughshod. • Redefine what constitutes a middle-class lifestyle and what people’s expectations should be from their employer. When private-sector unions were stronger, workers shared in the bounty of our economy. As productivity increased, everyone benefited. Workers won wages that allowed them to purchase a house, educate their kids. Health insurance was largely paid by the employer and modest pensions provided folks with retirement security. Public-sector unions built on this progress. But today Big Business wants workers to be happy to have any job at all and not to dare think that health care might be affordable or their retirement secure. • Deflect attention from their corporate benefactors who are largely responsible for the mess we’re in. Instead of blaming the Wall Street financiers who engineered the country’s economic collapse or the business moguls who shipped good jobs abroad to make an extra buck, the right wingers who are aggressively pushing this anti-middle-class agenda want the public to think that it’s the exorbitant pay of teachers, firefighters and other public servants that is responsible for the deep recession. But their lies don’t add up. The only public employees I know of who’ve gotten rich are the seven state employees in New York who pooled their money a couple of weeks ago and had a winning lottery ticket worth $312 million. If any others are wealthy, they either married well or risked jail. They certainly didn’t get rich from their salary. Make no mistake about it, the guys at the top, who now control some 75 percent of our country’s wealth, want to turn the American dream of having a good-paying job with decent benefits into a nightmare for most Americans. They want to turn the clock back to a time when you worked until you died, when you didn’t have the time or money to take a vacation, a time when you couldn’t afford to send your child to college. They are brazen in their aims and bold in their tactics. If we don’t stand up and stop them now, it will soon be too late. If they succeed in completely eliminating labor unions, working families will be defenseless – each left to fend for themselves against the immense concentration of wealth and power that Big Business now has. We’ve seen a tremendous display of spirit and resilience by the unions in Wisconsin. They have galvanized not only union members but a wide swath of Badger State residents who have come to recognize the importance of collective bargaining not simply as a democratic right but as an important tool in preserving an ever-shrinking middle class. This fight is about freedom – the freedom to associate and act collectively to make our voice heard and to fight for a just share of the nation’s wealth. Our opponents recognize this. That’s why they are trying to crush us, and that’s why each one of us must fight back with everything we’ve got. That’s why so many AFSCME members have flocked to Wisconsin and Indiana, and that’s why each of us must be engaged in the battles here in our own backyard. Council 31 Executive Board Officers STATE EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT Lori Laidlaw, Dixon CC Local 817 CITY/COUNTY EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT Carmin Willis-Goodloe, Cook County Hospital, Local 1111 PRIVATE SECTOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Yolanda Sims, Hope Institute Local 2481 UNIVERSITY EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT Dorinda Miller, U of I Clericals, Local 3700 SECRETARY Barney Franklin, City of Chicago, Local 2946 TREASURER Sam Rossi, Departments of Revenue and Lottery, Local 2467 Board Members STATE CONFERENCE BOARD CO-CHAIRS Gloria Arseneau, (RC-14), Northeastern Illinois State employees, Local 2794 David Ford, (RC-63), Murray DC, Local 401 Randy Hellman, (RC-6) Pinckneyville CC, Local 943 REGION I VICE-PRESIDENTS (COOK AND LAKE COUNTIES) Darlene Banks, Local 4008, Little City Patricia Ousley, Department of Employment Security, Local 1006 Ed Schwartz, Cook County DCFS, Local 2081 Denise Slaughter, New Hope Center, Local 1232 Eva Spencer-Chatman, Chicago Read MHC, Local 1610 Laverne Walker, City of Chicago, Local 505 Kevin Johnson, city of Evanston, Local 1891 REGION II VICE-PRESIDENTS (NOTHERN ILLINOIS) Gary Ciaccio, Shapiro DC, Local 29 Rob Fanti, Sheridan CC, Local 472 Ralph Portwood, Stateville CC, Local 1866 Pat Sanders, IYC Joliet, Local 1753 Garry Cacciapaglia, city of Rockford, Local 1058 REGION III VICE- PRESIDENTS (CENTRAL ILLINOIS) Gary Kroeschel, Sangamon County State employees, Local 2224 Richard Heitz, Canton Correctional Center, Local 3585 Matt Lukow, Springfield Area State employees, Local 1964 David Morris, Illinois State employees, Local 805 Matt Pederson, Eastern Illinois University, Local 981 Cameron Watson, Jacksonville CC, Local 3549 Trudy Williams, Fulton County Sheriffs Dept. & Courthouse, Local 3433 REGION IV VICE-PRESIDENTS (SOUTHERN ILLINOIS) Larry Flynn, Vienna CC, Local 415 Cary Quick, Choate MH/DC, Local 141 Michael Hamil, SIU-Edwardsville, Local 2887 Barb Reardon, Southern Illinois State Employees, Local 1048 Trustees Ken Kleinlein, (RC-6) Western CC, Local 3567 Kathy Lane, Northwestern Illinois State Employees, Local 448 Tom Minick, Moline Schools, Local 672 Retiree Chapter 31 Representative Virginia Yates On the Move April 2011 3 Debt restructuring needed to balance state budget Prospect of big cuts looms espite a significant influx of new revenues, Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year makes some deep cuts, with more to come if the General Assembly continues to balk at the plan to restructure the state’s debts. D w AFSCME MEMBERS WHO WORK FOR THE STATE WILL BE SPARED LAYOFFS, THANKS TO THE COSTsavings agreement approved by state employees last year. The budget proposal also sets aside enough for this year’s required contribution to state pension funds. But community-based developmental disability and mental health programs would be cut by 6 percent, leaving them hard-pressed to deliver services and keep staffing levels up, much less fund desperately needed wage increases. Services shrinking for developmentally disabled and mentally ill STATE-OPERATED MENTAL health and developmental centers would continue to be downsized, with 150 beds eliminated. And community disabilty agencies that operate larger, congregate care facilities could lose funds for 200 beds. This was supposed to be part of a plan to shift individuals with disabilities into smaller settings. Yet the budget pro- posal does not contain a corresponding increase in small group or home-based services. Community mental health programs, including substance abuse, would also be cut. Staffing levels mostly stable MORE STAFF WOULD CONTINUE to be added in state correctional facilities as part of an ongoing effort to reduce excessive overtime. Juvenile Justice would also have funding for added staff, with no apparent plan to merge the agency in the upcoming fiscal year. Staffing levels remain the same in Children and Family Services. No cuts are slated for local public health departments. Natural Resources would add more seasonal staff at state parks to cut down on overtime. There are no new cuts slated for state colleges and universities. No new borrowing in restructuring plan THE TEMPORARY TAX HIKE passed at the end of the last legislative session will bring in an estimated $7 billion in new revenues, not enough to eradicate the $13 billion deficit in one year. The debt restructuring plan contained in SB 3 would help the state catch up on its unpaid obligations for such items as: • Payments more than 60 days past due to vendors, schools and universities, social service agencies and others; • Expenses incurred by the state under its health plans and programs; and • Transfers to local governments. The state is now paying an annual interest rate from 9 percent to 24 percent on much of that backlog. Restructuring would allow it to issue bonds that bear a much lower interest rate. Restructuring would also improve the state’s bond ratings and allow vendors and social service agencies to hire additional staff, creating jobs and injecting dollars into the economy. It would allow the state to get lower bids on goods if vendors knew they would be paid on time. “This is not a borrowing bill, as some are saying,” Council 31 budget director Hank Scheff said. “This is money that’s already been borrowed. It’s much like refinancing your home loan to get a better interest rate.” Layoffs averted as Cook County workers opt for furloughs n a tumultuous time for Cook County employees, most local unions whose members were facing layoffs voted to save the jobs of 294 co-workers and accept 10 furlough days as an alternative. I w COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT TONI PRECKWINKLE DIDN’T START OUT SEEKING FURLOUGH days. Her budget for the current fiscal year proposed nearly 450 layoffs of AFSCME members. Yet much of the deficit was created by her support to roll back the County sales tax. The union fought back. Hundreds made phone calls and packed public hearings to protest the plan, and representatives from local unions testified about the damage that would be done to county services. Under that pressure, the County Board restored 60 of the positions – for attorneys in the public defenders office – and pressed Preckwinkle to find alternatives to the layoffs. The result was an agreement that gave AFSCME members a chance to vote on whether to take the layoffs or the furlough days, and to delay the scheduled layoffs until a vote was taken. The members of locals who work in the county’s health system rejected the furloughs because layoffs there were to proceed even if employees agreed to furlough days. Adult probation employees also voted to reject furloughs. Approximately 40 layoffs are scheduled in that office. “This decision was an extremely difficult one for our members,” Council 31 Director Henry Bayer said. “They had a right to make it for themselves. Taking unpaid furloughs means agreeing to a pay cut that many county workers can ill afford, while those laid off would face unemployment in terrible economic times. Both layoffs and furloughs reduce the quality of public services for residents who rely on county government.” Little progress on new contract THE AFSCME BARGAINING committee pointed out to the administration that furlough days represent a pay cut for frontline employees who have not had a pay increase in nearly three years. Though the county had made a commitment to work toward reaching a contract settlement prior to having the vote on furlough days, it soon became clear that management had no intention of living up to its word. As On the Move went to press, bargaining remained at a virtual standstill. “We haven’t accomplished anything since July,” Local 3696 President Monique Hodges said. In the meantime the cost of living has gone up. That made the decision to take the furlough days, which represents a 4 percent pay cut, that much harder. “We had to choose between voting with our hearts or our minds,” said Hodges, whose local repre- sents clerical employees in the judicial system. “We don’t make enough anyway. But if taking furlough days meant it saved jobs, that’s what our members were willing to do. When we had 22 members laid off in 2007, those jobs never came back.” Tears and hugs THAT SOLIDARITY CAME through in most county locals. “People did it because they wanted to help people,” said Laura Norris, president of Local 2060 in the state’s attorney’s office. “It’s hard to find jobs right now. Some people were mad, because we’ve had no raise in so long. But I’m happy we voted for the furloughs. The people who were facing layoffs had tears in their eyes when they found out about the vote. There was lots of hugging.” But she said many members are worried that this wasn’t the end. “Before it’s over, they will want more,” she predicted. “The more you give, the more they asked you to give.” “The little people are being hurt,” Norris said. “We need to be able to feed our families and educate our children.” But the little people who don’t have a union are even worse off, she noted. Her office only voted for AFSCME representation a few short years ago. And unrepresented state’s attorney employees weren’t given the furlough option. Many have already been laid off. “Without a union, we wouldn’t have had this choice,” she said. “They would have just done what they wanted to and we’d have had no say.” 4 On the Move April 2011 Battle of Wisconsin opens new era Council 31 Deputy Director Roberta Lynch fired up the crowd at the Chicago solidarity rally. ith a full-scale nationwide assault now underway on the rights of public-sector workers to have a union, the labor movement is gearing up for the fight of its life. W w “WHETHER YOU ARE A MEMBER OF A LABOR UNION OR NOT, YOU ARE ALL MEMBERS OF THE LABOR movement now,” Council 31 Deputy Director Roberta Lynch told the more than 2,000 people assembled for a Feb. 26 rally in Chicago to demonstrate solidarity with Wisconsin public employees. “What we’re witnessing is a raw power grab. Teachers, nurses, snowplow drivers, childcare workers, trash collectors and so many more could have their fundamental right to a voice on the job wiped out.” And two weeks later, they did. Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to gut collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin’s public employees is merely the opening volley in a war by the corporate elite, who are aiming to silence all workers’ voices on the job. Although the bill has been signed into law, its status was uncertain at press time as legal challenges were working their way through the courts. Meanwhile Wisconsin unions and their allies are working on recall petitions for a number of the Republican senators who stood with Walker. In Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Florida and other states around the country, wiping out collective bargaining rights for public employees is a sucker punch to gut the American middle class. In Ohio, an anti-union bill similar to Walker’s has now been signed into law. AFSCME and other unions are turning their efforts to putting a referendum on the ballot that would overturn the measure, which has strong backing from John Kasich, the state’s new Republican governor. In Indiana, Democratic Party legislators, following the pattern set by Wisconsin senators, left the state to prevent anti-labor bills from moving forward, and appear to have succeeded in their efforts. Madison County Backlash may be tonic for workers’ rights BY “DECIDING TO STRIKE NOW TO destroy organized labor,” Walker, the other governors who have mounted these attacks and their super-rich allies, including the infamous billionaire Koch brothers, may have made a strategic error, blogger Robert Creamer said in a lateFebruary entry. The uprising in Wisconsin stunned the nation by its breath and fortitude. The hundreds of thousands who Chicago On the Move April 2011 5 Joliet travelled to Madison, week after week and the spirit that grew from those mass actions put the real issues – the right to have a voice at work, the preservation of gains made through long years of union struggles, the very existence of an American middle class — squarely in front of the entire country. These demonstrations and the sacrifices of Democratic state senators, who held off passage of the bill, ignited a nationwide solidarity movement. The right wing is after unions because they comprise “the only institution in the country that prevents Wall Street and the largest international corporations from having their way with America,” Creamer wrote. “Organized labor is the only organization that can simultaneously stand up for the middle class at the bargaining table and the ballot box.” Instead of destroying the labor movement, Creamer argued, Walker and his ilk may have revitalized it. “The struggle has become a movement because the battle is no longer simply about dollars and cents,” he said. “It is about principle. It is about rights. As the AFSCME banners say in Madison: ‘It’s about freedom.’” ‘We Are One’ “THE BATTLE OF WISCONSIN – and all of the other states where right wing governors have trained their sites on public employee unions – is no longer Springfield just a struggle over wages and benefits,” Creamer said. “It’s no longer about the ‘state budget.’ It has become a struggle about the dignity of middle class Americans – about the principle of whether everyday people have the right to sit at a bargaining table and have a say about their wages, their working conditions, and their jobs. It has become a symbol for the desperate desire of everyday Americans to stand up straight and fight back against the forces that are destroying the middle class.” Public employees of every kind — teachers, correctional officers, child care workers, firefighters, sanitation workers and many, many others rose up in Wisconsin to march, rally, lobby, speak out and sleep in (occupying the state Capitol). Their slogan is “We Are One” and the unity and determination they’ve displayed captivated a nation. Lynch: It’s not working’ AFSCME MEMBERS FROM across Illinois journeyed to Madison for rallies. Support rallies like the one in Chicago were held in Springfield, Alton, Joliet and in every state in the country. And as On the Move went to press, the AFL-CIO was coordinating “We Are One” rallies around the country for the week of April 4-9. “Guess what,” Roberta Lynch said in her Chicago speech, regarding the union-crushing tactics of the corporate elite and their political servants, “it’s not working. Tens of thousands of union members are standing up and fighting back. Because the labor movement is not only about protecting the pay and benefits of its members. It is also about building a just society.” 6 On the Move April 2011 Retirement security not secure Legislation threatens pensions, retiree health care tate Senate Republicans are calling on the General Assembly to cut benefits for current employees in state-funded pension systems to save $1.35 billion as part of their budget proposal for fiscal year 2012. S THE GOP RECOGNIZES THAT w be diminished or impaired.” THERE ARE SOME LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN PURSUING THIS course, but insists that whatever it takes to make these cuts — including a constitutional amendment — should be done. Most legal analyses of the current state constitution believe that it would, indeed, take an amendment. The language in Article XIII of the state constitution seems clear. It says that membership in a public pension system is an enforceable contractual relationship, “the benefits of which may not All public employees could be targeted ANY PENSION LEGISLATION THAT IS pushed through the General Assembly will likely be structured to affect all public employees in Illinois, whether they work for the state, school districts, universities or local governments. Though Republicans are in the Senate minority and don’t have the votes to push their plan through, this initiative has given further impetus to the Pace of legislative activity picks up services at a lower cost (see April showers began to page 3). Senate fall, Republicans the pace of are calling the legislative for a $1.35 process was Legislative billion cut in starting to the pension pick up, with benefits of a lot of redcurrent light danger employees – signals flasha move that ing for poses a direct AFSCME challenge to members. the widely “Your accepted legislators interpretaneed to hear tion of the from you now state’s constion issues of Update tution importance (see above to AFSCME article). members,” Council 31 Union rights under legislative director Joanna fire for some Webb-Gauvin said. “They are state employees feeling a lot of pressure from Big Business interests to ‘cut, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SEEMS cut, cut’ and we have to apply intent upon stepping on, and counter pressure. There are a into, the collective bargaining lot of bills out there that could process with attempts to shift hurt our members as well as more health-care costs onto people who rely on state serretirees (see above article) vices.” and to strip thousands of state The budget could be truly employees of their bargaining disastrous if Republicans conrights. tinue to block SB3, the plan to AFSCME members in Illirestructure debt that would nois are not facing the same allow the state to pay off the kind of sweeping assault on money it owes, capture the collective bargaining seen in maximum amount of federal Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, funds, and purchase goods and A S SPRING SPRUNG AND Statehouse discussions of pension cuts for current employees. Last year the General Assembly passed legislation that cut the pensions of all newly hired public employees. Unfortunately those in the corporate elite who have relentlessly pushed for pension cuts have never let a little thing like a constitution stand in the way of getting what they want. And even more unfortunately, several prominent Democrats now seem to be joining Republican legislators in doing the bidding of the Big Business lobby. Florida and other states. But Illinois Democrats, who should be solidly in labor’s corner, have been joined by Republicans in a continuing effort to redefine “managerial and supervisory” under state labor law, effectively removing thousands of employees from AFSCME bargaining units. Several bills (SB148, SB1988, SB1989) have already been introduced to advance this goal. The Quinn Administration was poised in March to introduce its own version, but under protests from AFSCME, the administration backed off, temporarily. House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie was quoted in the press as saying that the House intended to move forward on this issue. Given the bipartisan push on this legislation, AFSCME and other unions have been meeting with the administration, pressing to preserve the bargaining rights of current union members. Business targets Workers’ Compensation BUSINESS INTERESTS ARE CONtinuing to press for cuts in the benefits provided to workers who are injured on the job. The governor’s office has convened discussions between organized labor and business interests to see if a compromise can be reached, but little progress has been made in those talks. Republicans are continuing to push for a floor vote on measures that will make it more difficult for injured workers to receive compensation (HB 1342, HB 2883, SB 1349, SB 2155). Responding to media reports which question the Speaker Madigan on record for benefit cuts CHIEF AMONG THE DEFECTORS IS House Speaker Mike Madigan, who has said he supports cutting the benefits of current employees. Several bills have already been introduced that would reduce the pension benefits of current employees. However, at this point it’s not clear which, if any of them, will be the bill favored by the pension-cutting forces. More likely, as happened in the last year, the specifics of pension legislation are still being worked out behind closed doors, and no such bill will move until later in the session. If a bill passes, there will be a court challenge that could take a long time. But AFSCME’s lobbying program won’t wait for that to happen. “We will oppose any bill to cut pensions for current employees with everything we’ve got,” Council 31 legislative director Joanna WebbGauvin said. workers’ compensation claims filed by some state employees, the House has passed HJR 131, a resolution calling for a thorough investigation of the administration of the workers’ compensation program in state government. Privatization bills keep coming AFSCME IS WORKING TO DEFEAT three bills on privatization that are still in the legislative hopper. HB1091 has moved to the House floor. It would establish a so-called “public-private partnership” that would allow for the private operation of any expansion of the Illinois Tollway Authority roadways. It had reached the House floor and a companion bill was stalled in a Senate committee. HB1656 would allow the departments of Health and Family Services and Human Services to contract out determination of Medicaid eligibility. This is a concept that has failed in Texas and Indiana. The bill had made it to the House floor. HB2859 would effectively repeal the strong protections against privatization in school districts that the labor movement has enacted by exempting contracts for transportation services from those provisions. SB 2250 SA#1 would repeal the act that has these protections in its entirety. Both bills were alive in committee. State developmental centers targeted PRESSURE IN THE GENERAL Assembly is intensifying to Cost-shifting bill likely on retiree health insurance MEANWHILE THOSE WHO HAVE already retired and those who plan to retire in the near future are facing an assault on their health-insurance benefits. All four legislative leaders are on record as favoring increased contributions from retirees. AFSCME has argued that any changes to retiree health-care cost shifting must be negotiated with the union, not imposed by the legislature. Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, DEvanston, heads the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, which is preparing a report on restructuring the cost allocation for retiree health insurance. That report is expected in early May, with legislation likely to emerge before the end of the spring session. “AFSCME members who work for the state and state universities — and retirees — should contact their legislators about this issue,” WebbGauvin said. close down state developmental centers. The ARC of Illinois is leading a full-blown crusade, attacking the costs of developmental centers and blaming union contracts and union-negotiated wage levels. SJR15, HB1687 and SB1622 were all intended to speed the closure of stateoperated developmental centers. AFSCME was successful in sidelining or amending them, but the pressure is expected to continue. “The threat to developmental centers is very real,” Webb-Gauvin warned. “Our members there will have to stay in very close touch with their legislators.” An invasion of privacy AFSCME IS OPPOSING HB222, which would require all units of local government (county, township and municipality) to develop a “searchable database” that would list all employees, their position titles and their salaries. The union sees this requirement as both unduly burdensome for many financially strapped local governments and an invasion of employee privacy. The House passed the bill, which was in Senate committee at press time. University employees could lose tuition waivers AFSCME IS WORKING TO defeat HB2959 and SB1318, which would repeal the 50-percent tuition waiver that is available to children of employees of state universities. Both bills were in committee at press time. On the Move April 2011 7 Daryl Gibson, left, and Carl Burns contact Chicago voters for AFSCME-endorsed candidates. City elections crucial for Chicago’s future hicago AFSCME members were in the streets and on the phone banks during the Tuesday, Feb. 22, primary election, working for union-backed candidates. C w OF THE 29 AFSCME ENDORSED, 19 won outright and two were eliminated. Eight made it into runoff elections which were held on April 5. It was the first election for mayor in a quarter century, and many observers viewed it as a turning point for the city, with a slew of open seats on the City Council up for grabs. AFSCME members took umbrage at Rahm Emanuel’s characterization of city employees as disengaged and uncom- mitted to public service. “I was angry,” said Daryl Gibson, a member of Local 2946 who walked a precinct for an AFSCME-endorsed aldermanic candidate. “I take pride in serving the taxpayers.” Given that Emanuel’s election was viewed by many as a sure thing, the union’s main goal in the election was to make sure there were enough independent aldermen to maintain a balance of power. Thus the union worked for labor-friendly candidates who would be allies if Emanuel tries to go after employee pensions or cut and privatize city services as he has indicated he would. “I don’t want my pension cut,” Gibson said. “I’ve got 20 years and I want to know my retirement will be there for me.” As a city worker, he helps in the oversight of city contractors, making sure they patch the potholes they’re paid to fix or propely repair streets they have to tear up. “We keep neighborhoods safe and looking good,” he said. “We keep companies that operate in the city honest.” Protecting pensions, fighting privatization, preserving high-quality services, saving good union jobs – those are among the issues that motivated AFSCME to continue its on-theground efforts in the runoffs. As On the Move went to press, members were getting involved in nine of the 14 runoff races. Revised voluntary furlough plan for state employees runs through June 2012 s part of a cost-savings agreement with the Quinn administration that halted scheduled layoffs, AFSCME members in state government have stepped up to the plate to voluntarily take nearly 36,000 unpaid furlough days. A w THE VOLUNTARY FURLOUGH PROGRAM IS A WIN-WIN FOR EMPLOYEES AND TAXPAYERS. IT allows employees who would like some extra personal time to get it without any penalty, while saving taxpayer dollars. Now the program has been extended for another year, with some modifications. Employees’ option to take unpaid days off, subject to operational needs in their agencies, will continue to include a paid incentive day for every two “furlough” days they take. But now “incentive days” can be taken at any time dur- ing the fiscal year in which they were earned instead of on fixed days adjacent to holidays. Previously earned incentive days not yet used can be converted to these “floating” incentive days. As was the case under the old voluntary furlough policy, employees who do take furlough days adjacent to holidays will not lose holiday pay. Seniority will determine which employees can take a given day off if approval is limited by operational needs. The program will now be available to many employees in correctional, developmental and mental health No layoffs of state employees through June 2012. centers who were previously not eligible. Furlough time may be scheduled in half-day increments. For employees in the RC-6, RC-9 and CU 500 bargaining units, furlough time can be taken in 15-minute increments after a minimum use of one hour. Employees will continue to be covered by their health insurance plans, up to a maximum of 30 furlough days. Furlough days count as time worked for the purpose of being eligible for overtime pay. Voluntary furlough days can provide significant savings for the state, without taking income away from those who can least afford it. For those who can, it’s a way to get some work done around the house, spend a long weekend with the family or tack on a few extra days to a vacation. AFSCME members who help generate these savings are doing their part in return for the agreement that has guaranteed no layoffs of state employees and no facility closures through June 2012. 8 On the Move April 2011 Elliot Peterson and Georgene Kirschbaum. Veterans serVed A s a veteran of World War II Elliott Peterson served in the Pacific theater of operations with the U.S. Navy – decoding enemy messages, or, as he says, “chasing dots and dashes around.” Now Peterson lives in the Illinois Veterans Home, LaSalle, where his step-daughter Georgene Kirschbaum works keeping track of medical records. She and other AFSCME members in the state’s four veterans homes help care for men and women like Peterson, who, by serving in the armed forces and defending their country, have more than earned the care that the citizens of Illinois provide them in their old age. “We appreciate that they fought and made this such a wonderful country,” said Kathy Reno, a certified nursing assistant and president of Local 3693 at the LaSalle home. Like many of the frontline staff we talked to on a recent visit to LaSalle, social worker Sharon Gibson talked about the atmosphere created by the veterans themselves. “I really enjoy it here,” she said. “It’s awesome to be in their presence. They’re fun being around. They really appreciate what you do. And their stories are incredible.” She told about the vet who declined a field trip to see a reclaimed WWII jeep. “He said, ‘I drove one of those. I don’t need to see one.’” It turned out he had been rewarded for his bravery on a combat mission by getting the duty of driving a general around for a day. It was Gen. George Patton. Teamwork gets the work done “This is their last stop,” Reno said. “We just try to make their lives better while they’re here.” To do that takes teamwork. And the team is diverse. There are the folks who do clerical work and maintain records. There are direct caregivers like certified nursing assistants (called Veterans Nursing Assistant Certified – VNACs, or “vee-nak” in workplace parlance) and nurses. There are housekeepers and maintenance workers, physical and occupational rehabilitation specialists, activity coordinators, social workers and more. And there are volunteers and contributors, people and organizations who want to pay homage to the hometown heroes. And of course there are several levels of administrators. “I really like interacting with the residents,” VNAC Corinna Harms has put in 18 years as a Support Service Worker. “I clean and wax floors, wash walls, clean toilets, furniture, restrooms, offices, wheel chairs – anything that needs cleaning,” she said. Debby Hunkapillar said. “But sometimes respect we deserve (from the administra Despite that kind of friction on occa workplace doesn’t have some of it?) the work well together. For example, Support Service Work Harms in housekeeping, is a critical part “These residents fought for our cou “They deserve to have a clean room.” The community pitches Volunteers are part of the team and come in many forms and from many dire Many of the veterans’ organizations, the VFW and the American Legion as w more specialized groups provide volunte activities. Spouses of the residents get at teer after their loved one has passed aw made in memory of residents who are g The United Auto Workers union ha buses, used for field trips and attending c well as an ambulance. Musicians come in the vets. Volunteers put on picnics. But it’s the frontline staff that makes “We connect with these guys,” Phys Doreen Jacobson said. “We like to come to When VNAC Dena Robbins arrives at work in the morning, getting the vets out of bed and ready for the day is the first order of business. “Some are independent. Some need total care. Most of them like to talk.” After breakfast is some type of activity – exercises, music therapy, animal therapy. One thing the vets do is make the poppies that the American Legion uses to raise money. “I have a lot more appreciation for those poppies now,” Robbins said. On the Move April 2011 9 Virginia Pyszka (right) is an Office Associate with more than 16 years at the home. She’s been an Office Assistant, whose main work is filing residents’ charts, making sure their monthly metrics are recorded, keeping supplies on order and distributing paperwork between sections. Michele Hansen is training for Pyszka’s old job. t h e i r c o u n t r y, now Illinois cares for them we don’t get the ation).” asion, (and what team seems to ker Corinna of the team. untry,” she said. s in Jayne Caldwell is an Activity Program Aide with 20 years in the LaSalle home. Exercise, especially for the Alzheimer’s patients, “is an important part” of the activities she organizes. “They really like beach ball toss,” she said. There’s also music therapy. “Some can strum the guitar themselves. Those who can’t, we strum it and put their hands on the strings so they feel the vibrations. They really respond.” There are bus trips in nice weather, or movies, complete with popcorn. “I brought my little pit barbecue grill in and we roasted marshmallows. I get to help new residents adjust. I get a big kick when I see someone with a frown on their face, I talk to them and when I get up they are smiling.” d contributions ections. large ones like well as smaller, eers to help with tached and volunway. Donations are gone. as contributed two church services, as n and perform for s it all work. ical Therapy Aide o work.” Sharon Gibson is a Social Worker, with two years at the home. She serves as a liason between the nursing staff and families. Her routine includes reassessing each resident every three months, setting goals and meeting with the family about those goals. Her main job, she said, “is to make life here easier for the residents. If someone has a problem, we try to figure out what’s wrong and try to fix it. Some things you can fix and some you can’t.” Like Alzheimer’s disease. “It’s heartbreaking for the families. The guys themselves teach you how to live in the moment, because that’s what they do. They deserve what we do for them. It’s a real privilege to be part of their lives.” Doreen Jacobson has worked at the home for 20 years and is a Physical Therapy Aide. “We help people that had strokes learn to walk, amputees learn to use their prostheses, retrain stroke victims how to take care of themselves. We do speech therapy to keep them able to swallow. The guys love coming in here to exercise. They have fun. A lot of people who the doctors thought would never walk, we got them walking.” Twyla Kruger and Dawn Pohar, who also work in the rehab unit, help a resident get from his wheel chair into an exercise machine. “We have group exercises, too,” Kruger said. “And wheelchair volleyball.” Jacque Tobiasz is a licensed practical nurse. “The families are wonderful to us,” she said. “And I enjoy the guys. It’s neat to hear their stories. They tell you about the war, who got shot, or coming back home to find their girlfriends had married someone else.” Being an LPN means taking on more responsibility, like passing medications and charting. “It’s less hands on, which I regret sometimes,” she said. “But it’s teamwork in here.” 10 On the Move April 2011 House majority launches new attacks on middle class Federal budget proposal would kill jobs he Republican majority in the U.S. House has passed a budget measure for the rest of fiscal 2011 that is right out of the Big Business playbook – laying off tens of thousands of public employees and making deep cuts in programs that protect workers. T w WITH THE BUDGET OUTLINED IN HR 1, AFSCME MEMBERS WHO WORK IN HEAD START WILL FACE layoffs and cutbacks, with the closing of more than 16,000 classrooms. It would cut $5 billion from the Department of Education, even as states are laying off hundreds of thousands of public-school teachers and support personnel. It would remove funding for implementation of the desperately needed health care reform law, thereby actually increasing the federal deficit by an estimated $6 billion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Thousands of police officers and firefighters would be laid off because of cuts in homeland security funding. recent mining disasters. Food safety inspection funding and environmental protection would also be cut. The House budget would undermine workers’ ability to have a voice on the job by cutting funding for the National Labor Relations Board by $50 million. Renewed attacks on Social Security Stopping the lies ONE OF THE BIG LIES CONSERVAtives tell is that regulations kill jobs. Not true, of course, but what they don’t say is that lack of regulations, like those enforced by OSHA or the Environmental Protection Agency or the Food and Drug Administration, kill people. Cuts of $110 million to the Occupational Safety and Health and the Mine Safety and Health administrations will undermine job safety enforcement and deprive the agencies of the ability to investigate fatalities or mass casualties such as those in REPUBLICANS PLAN TO SLASH the Social Security Administration by $1.7 billion, forcing half a million Americans who are legally entitled to Social Security benefits to wait significantly longer to receive them. “Despite its success, Social Security faces an unprecedented attack from Wall Street, the Republican Party and a few Democrats,” said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., in a blog entry. “If the American people are not prepared to fight back, the dismantling of Social Security could begin in the very near future. “Rep. Paul D. Ryan, the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, wants to partially privatize Social Security, lower its cost-of-living adjustments and drastically cut benefits. And there are threats on other fronts. A deficitreduction commission established by President Obama called for increasing the retirement age to 69, reducing costof-living adjustments for today’s retirees and deeply reducing benefits for future retirees who make as little as $42,000 a year.” There would be cuts to funds for investing in transportation and infrastructure needs, energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives. College students will find it much harder to get education grants. There is much more. Making a play for fairness MEANWHILE, CORPORATE CEOS are not being asked for any sacrifices at all. For example, Gen- eral Electric made $14 billion in profits last year, yet paid no (that’s zero) taxes last year. “More cuts for the middle class, more favors for the CEOs who bankrolled the 2010 campaigns of Republican politicians,” AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka said. “Instead of putting working family protections on the chopping block, what we need is a responsible approach that secures our economic recovery, invests in longterm growth and achieves longterm balance. Let’s ask Wall Street and others who benefited from the record economic inequality of the last decade to pay their fair share.” Sanders has a bill to do just that. He is proposing to place a 5.4 percent emergency surtax on income over $1 million. The revenue would go into an Emergency Deficit Reduction Fund. “Just doing that - asking millionaires to pay a little bit more in taxes after all the huge tax breaks they have received — will bring in up to $50 billion a year,” Sanders said. Local union pitches in to keep student activities going hen it looked like an integral part of student life at the School for the Visually Impaired and the School for the Deaf would become another casualty of the state’s ongoing budget crisis, AFSCME Local 38 stepped in. W w BOTH SCHOOLS HAVE INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORTS AND ACADEMIC COMPETITION PROGRAMS. But to compete with their peers, students who are also deaf or blind, the teams must travel, mostly to other states. ISVI, for example, is part of the North Central Association of Schools for the Blind that includes schools from a dozen other states. Participation doesn’t come cheaply, and with state budget cuts, the schools’ travel budgets for extracurricular activities have been axed. “They told us there would be no out-of-state travel,” said Donna Visually impaired students Cockcan participate in track. This erill, runner is using ropes to stay who within her lane. works at ISVI and is a chief steward for the local. “Our local has a fund for making donations and we wanted to make sure our kids were able to do the things that they enjoy so much and that benefit them so much.” The local also participates in other fundraising efforts to support the activities, which include speech, cheerleading, basketball and volleyball for the deaf students; track, swimming, speech, wrestling, cheerleading and goal ball for the visually impaired. “It’s important for the kids and we’re there for them,” said Debra Reese, chief steward at ISD. “They need to get out there and do stuff with other School for the Deaf students play basketball against local schools for hearing students as well as competing with deaf schools from other states. compete kids. It with heargives ing kids at them a the Jacklittle sonville more schools in self some esteem, sports, but and we competiall need tion with that. It Goal ball is something like soccer, with three-person teams other keeps of visually impaired athletes trying to get a ball with bells schools for them inside it past the other team’s goal line. The green lines are the deaf motivat- raised to allow players to orient themselves on the court. means outed to do of-state travel. well in school.” Both schools create a famShe said the deaf kids do ily atmosphere that is shared by the entire Jacksonville community, said Teresa Stice, the local union president. “Jacksonville is a deaf community,” she said. “People move here to keep their famiContinued on page 13 On the Move April 2011 11 AFSCME youth movement grows hallenges abound as the labor movement strives to develop a new generation of activists to confront the relentless attacks aimed at public employees and their unions. C w BUT THE CHALLENGES DIDN’T DETER A SPIRITED GROUP OF MORE THAN 250 UNDER-35 AFSCME activists who gathered in Springfield on March 11-12 for Council 31’s inaugural Next Wave conference. Calling the conference a “springboard to action,” Council 31 director Henry Bayer urged the group to step up and help build the union. “The success of this conference will not be determined here,” he said. “If it results in more fee payers becoming members, more members becoming active, more members joining PEOPLE, more people coming to union meetings – if it results in more members joining informational picket lines, marching on the boss, speaking forcefully for the union, volunteering to help organize new workers, that’s when we’ll know if we have succeeded.” As they returned home, those tasks were on the minds of the young folks who were there. Noting what has happened in Wisconsin and other states where public employees are under attack, John Nelson, chief steward for Local 997, which represents state employees in the Springfield area, said that “People have gotten interested now in what AFSCME is and what we can do. We have to continue reaching out and remind them how we got where we are and how much we have to lose if we stay inactive.” Shatriya Smith, PEOPLE chair of Local 2481, works at Hope Institute, a non-profit agency that provides services for the developmentally disabled. She found it exciting to be around other young people who “were feisty and determined to be part of the union.” “Young people are able to push the labor movement towards the future,” Smith said. “It’s time to kick that stereotype in the behind that young people are lazy because we’ve been given everything. Next Wave is the group that has the energy to make change happen.” Dan Dunlap is president of Local 1133 at Dwight Correctional Center. He said getting young members active is “vital to the survival of unions. It will give us more energy. There are lots of smart young people out there. We have to get them involved.” And politics is the key to that survival, he said. “It’s about pensions, wages, our jobs.” Carol Braz is a member of Local 3477, Cook County Juvenile Probation, and an alternate member of the county-wide bargaining committee that is locked in a years-long contract battle. “The conference gave me the confidence to be more vocal at my local in talking to members about what’s going on in negotiations,” she said. “It’s really intense.” She was encouraged “to see so many young people that passionate about wanting to be Involving young members ‘is vital to the survival of unions.’ involved in their locals.” All of the things these Next Wavers point to and more will be needed to protect the gains that earlier waves of labor union activists have won, Bayer said. “Make no mistake about it,” he warned. “Everything we’ve fought for is under attack. We should dedicate ourselves to the campaign to bring dignity to the workplace. “There’s no time to spare,” Bayer concluded. “These are exciting times, challenging times. Are we ready for the challenge? Are we ready for the fight? Are we ready to win? Are we ready to protect contracts? Our union? Our rights? These are questions only you can answer.” 12 On the Move April 2011 DHS workers beat back parking fee SHORT REPORTS Persistence pays — DHS moves from ‘filthy’ field office THE BATTLE TO GET RELIEF FOR workers in a dilapidated and dangerous state Human Services field office on Chicago’s South Side ended after eight years on Feb. 1, when DHS moved caseworkers and support staff to a new building. Over the years Local 2854 filed more than 50 grievances, half a dozen complaints with the state Department of Labor’s health and safety division and attended countless meetings and hearings about the unsafe and unhealthy conditions at the building. There were carpet mites, rodents and cockroaches, dead and alive, mice droppings on workers’ desks every morning, ceiling tiles falling off, toilets and floors not cleaned. “I started on this in 2003,” said Barbara Rhodes, a longtime union leader in the local. “I was telling an office administrator about the light fixtures that were dangling from the ceiling. She seemed to think it was just a union person complaining. A week later the fixture over her desk fell. Fortunately she wasn’t there, but I gained an ally.” Despite the grievances, citations from the health and safety inspectors and a favorable arbitration decision, the state’s budget problems and its maze-like bureaucracy prevented anything but patchwork solutions. So most of the problems persisted. “The working conditions in that building were horrible,” Rhodes said. “One time an elevator dropped several floors. People were afraid.” But the union kept at it. “Linda Allen was a steward there,” Rhodes said. “She filed most of the 50 grievances.” An informational picket in 2007 made the point that the union wasn’t going away. When change finally came, DHS Secretary Michelle Saddler sent a letter out to staff, celebrating the move. “She failed to mention the role of the union,” Rhodes said. “So I complained again. I was mad. They said there is an open house scheduled to show off the new building and they would give the union recognition then. I’m reminding them of that.” Local 997 builds strength with membership drive WITH AN EYE ON next year’s negotiations with the state and a recognition that the more full members the local has the more power it wields, Local 997 has taken on a campaign to sign up “fair share” payers. For those who have opted not to be union members, only a monthly fee to cover the costs of negotiating and administering the union contract is deducted from their paychecks. But building unity means having as many co-workers as possible on board as full, voting members of the union. The local, whose membership recently stood at 78 percent, is pushing to do better. Part of the campaign is the banner shown here, with the signature of every member. “We have to remind people how we got where we are and how much we have to lose if we stay inactive,” said John Nelson, the local’s recording secretary and chief steward. CASEWORKERS AND OTHER STAFF in the Department of Human Services Skokie field office have long been able to park in the lot by their building at no cost. So when the state told staff they would have to park blocks away and would be charged for the dubious privilege, Local 2858 fought back. With soaring caseloads, employees often have to work late and leave alone. So the walk to an out-of-the-way lot with no security could be risky. There are also concerns about angry clients. “In the course of our jobs, we have to deny a lot of cases,” said Steve Edwards, the local’s president. “The whole welfare system still has restrictive standards. So we give people bad news. Not everybody handles that too well.” Employees were told they couldn’t park in the lot adjacent to the office building, because it was to be reserved for clients. Instead the 130 AFSCME members would have to pay about $95 per month for a lot two blocks away – which the union maintained was a pay cut and a violation of the AFSCME contract. Edwards said the local tried to bargain over the changed condition, but ended up filing a grievance. The local’s stewards who work at the office, Bunnie Johnson, Magali Acacia, Claude Acacia, John Mitchell, Veloz Gomez, Robert Kramer, Maria R. Perez and Biju John were instrumental in mobilizing members for informational picketing, Edwards said. There’s no parking on the street, caseworker Cariann Weichmann told the Chicago Tribune. “Most of the people who work here are from the South Side. I have to drop off my children. I have no choice. I can’t use public transportation. People have no option but to drive here.” In late March the union received an e-mail from the state saying the planned parking change would be put on hold indefinitely. “We take it as a guarded victory,” Edwards said. “We’re glad they’ve decided not to do it at this time. To go from two weeks notice to indefinitely on hold is better than what we were looking at.” U. of I. locals battle program closure FOR REASONS HARD TO FATHOM, the University of Illinois is moving to close its Aviation Institute RHC nurses shoot for union election NURSES AT OUR LADY OF RESURRECTION HOSPITAL ARE COLLECTing authorization cards from co-workers in an attempt to bring their union organizing drive to an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. Facing stiff resistance from management, the nurses are pushing ahead. Pictured here is a demonstration at the Resurrection Health Care’s annual fundraising gala. OLR is part of the RHC chain of Chicago-area hospitals. “Each and every day, management makes decisions that focus resources away from the bedside,” the nurses’ organizing committee said in a joint statement. “Despite our efforts, our voices are not heard or heeded. It’s time for that to change.” near the Urbana-Champaign campus. Students, pilots who are former students, staff, instructors and campus unions have mounted a campaign to reverse the decision. “The Aviation Institute is doing a marvelous job,” said Jim McGuire, president of Local 698, which has several members working at the institute. The institute is known for turning out professional pilots who are trained in aviation safety, decision making and resource management. It offers bachelors and masters degrees. It is capable of helping to meet an upcoming demand for pilots – half of the current U.S. airline pilots will be retired by 2017. It is also a training ground for air traffic controllers. “AFSCME members repair the airplanes,” McGuire said. “We also have a storekeeper out there and Local 3700 has clerical employees. They all work together to help turn out high quality pilots. Yet the university has done everything it can over recent years to undermine the program. We’re working with other unions on campus to try to save this program.” Local 2481 ‘Red Day’ demonstrates solidarity with Wisconsin THE BATTLE FOR A VOICE ON the job in Wisconsin, a battle that many see as a fight to preserve the American middle class, lit a fire that remains aglow across the country. When Wisconsin public employees and their allies began to occupy the state Capitol, it sparked a solidarity “Red Day” at Hope Institute in Springfield aimed at reflecting Wisconsin colors. “We wanted to make our members aware of the fight for collective bargaining rights and the fact that it could come to Illinois if we don’t stand up and do something about it,” Local 2481 President Yolanda Sims said. She said the demonstration was organized by the local’s member action team leaders. “We had a very good response. And it was a good time to educate people on the fundamental principles of union rights and union solidarity.” Contract fight goes public in LaSalle County LOCAL 978 WENT TO THE bargaining table having had no general wage increase in the previous year, only to find that the county was asking for more concessions. Management was asking for a steep increase in what employees paid for health insurance and a provision that would allow it to shorten hours of work – read furloughs – without input from the union. And it was offering the lowest percentage wage increase to AFSCME members, who are already in the lowestpaying jobs – including clerical, maintenance and nursing home workers. “We work hard,” the local’s president, Vicki Leadingham, told an area newspaper. “We want a fair wage increase and affordable health care. What they’re proposing could be a 50percent increase in our insurance for the next two years. We can’t afford that. We can’t do it.” The local got publicity by taking an informational picket to the County Board meeting, where 100 of the 200 members turned out, “to let the County Board know we’re here,” Leadingham said. On the Move April 2011 13 ON THE LOCAL LEVEL Health care eats into raises for bus drivers Wage freeze this year in Jefferson County A TWO-YEAR CONTRACT FOR JOLIet Township High School bus drivers raises wages 2.5 percent in the first year and 1.5 percent the second. The local gained recognition for 16 bus aides, who were previously unrepresented. Increases in what members pay for health insurance, “takes most of the pay increase for those who need the family plan,” Local 197 President Jim McDonald said. “Naturally we felt that wasn’t enough by any means. The fat cats want to give it all to the superintendant.” Some help came with a restructuring of the healthinsurance plan from two tiers into four, so a single parent, with one dependent won’t be paying the same as a family with two parents and one or more children. But some of the employees still end up paying most of their wage increase for health insurance, McDonald said. “We need to get people elected to school boards and city councils,” he said. “It’s the only way we can save what we have.” The union bargaining committee was led by staff representative Randy Dominic, with McDonald, Ron Kevish and John Tezak. LOCAL 3663 MEMBERS WON’T BE getting a raise this year from Jefferson County Health Department, but their health insurance contributions will go down by $55 per month. They’ll get an extra personal day and New Year’s Eve will be a new paid holiday. Wages for the next three years of the four-year contract will be negotiated separately. “We lost several members to layoff, so hopefully with the wage freeze we’ve insured no more layoffs,” said Heather Bicanich, who served on the bargaining committee. “And we’re hoping next year the state will be in better shape and we can negotiate a raise.” Staff representative Jeremy Noelle led the negotiating team, with Bicanich, Vickie Nollman and Brenda Richardson. ‘Give and take’ leads to raises in Canton A LONG, DRAWN-OUT ROUND OF bargaining finally led to a three-year contract between Local 1372 and the city of Canton that raises wages 2.5 percent each year, retroactive to May 2010. The contract added Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday. “The city was adamant at first,” about takeaways said Kayma Duncan, vice president of the local. But support from police and firefighters helped convince the mayor to come back to the table and negotiate in good faith, Council 31 staff representative Randy Lynch said. “There was give and take and we sat down and reached an agreement,” Duncan said. “Everybody wants more money, but we were happy to get an agreement.” Lynch led the negotiating committee with Duncan, Pam Smith, Rick Murphy, Ronnie Robinson and Michael Courtney. Wage freeze, but SIUE local breaks through on longevity WAGES WILL BE FROZEN FOR THE first year of a three-year contract between Local 2887 and Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. There will be no acrossthe-board increase in the second year, but the contract provides for a new longevity pay plan that adds $200 a year for employees with five or more years of service. At 10 years the longevity pay rises to $400 a year and at 20 years to $750. In the third year there is a 2 percent wage increase. If non-union staff get wage increases in those first two years, the contract provides for AFSCME members to get them, too. “Negotiations were pretty rough,” said Mike Hamil, the local’s president. “This is not a really good time to negotiate a contract. It’s hard to ask for something when you know it’s not there. They are scraping for money just to keep the university running. “The sticking point was longevity. Our team did not want to bring a contract back to the members without that. What we got was not huge, but it’s a starting point. We can bargain over the amount in the future.” Staff representative Ed LaPorte led the bargaining team, with Hamil, Cindy Korte, Gail Erb and Diane Schilling. PHA workers take ‘hard line,’ make progress A TWO-YEAR CONTRACT RAISED wages 2.5 percent each year for members of Local 3464 at Peoria Housing Authority. Employees can now shift unused vacation days into their pension plan. Christmas Eve will be a full day holiday instead of half a day. “Every negotiations is a big fight,” negotiating team member Rachel Pollard said. “The agency is not friendly and the negotiations are rough.” This time was no exception. There was a news conference, informational picketing, button days and other solidarity demonstrations. “We had to really get out there,” Pollard said. “From where the bargaining started, with a full takeaway contract on the table, to where we ended up was a world of difference. We took the hard line and PHA backed down.” The negotiating team was led by staff representative Jeff Dexter, with Pollard, Joanne Jordan, Vernon Thomas, Dorean Stephens and Nicole Staley. Wages, insurance up in University Park WAGES GO UP 3 PERCENT IN THE first year of a four-year contract between Local 3837 and the village of University Park, 3.25 percent the second year, 3.5 percent the third and 3.75 the fourth. Health insurance increases are modest. The clothing allowance was increased, as was tuition reimbursement. “It was an experience,” said Lilleta Rogers, the local union president. Many of the disagreements revolved around contract language changes and applying policies equally to union and non-union employees, she said. “The village manager thought he would walk in and it would be a done deal.” The bargaining team was led by staff representative Jerry Brown, with Rogers, Delores Buckley and James Young. No layoffs, furloughs for Iroquois County ACCEPTING A WAGE FREEZE AND a small increase in health insurance premiums won Local 3312 a one-year no-lay- off, no-furlough-days agreement with Iroquois County. “Going into negotiations that’s what we wanted,” said John Smith, the local union president. “We had six people laid off a year ago and had furlough days.” “The board members were concerned about health insurance,” he said. “They wanted us to pay $150 more per month. We ended up going from $20 to $50 and the new insurance plan seems better.” With a one-year contract, the local was already looking ahead to bargaining. “We said we were helping them dig out, but we want something back later,” Smith said. “Next time we’re looking for a nice raise.” Bargaining for the union was led by staff representative Michael Wilmore, with Smith, Rona Smith, Louise Bruens and Jackie Burkiewicz. Winnebago County: wage thaw after 18 months NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN LOCAL 473 and Winnebago County that began in 2009 and concluded after 46 separate meetings ended with a four-year contract that raises wages 2 percent this year, after an 18month wage freeze. Wages then go up 3 percent a year for the next two years. A longevity pay plan that adds 1 percent each year after three years service stays intact. Health insurance contributions for employees remain at 15 percent of premiums for the term of the contract. “Both sides came to the table knowing that there would have to be give and take,” said Rose Jackson, the local union president. “We were not going to give our longevity. It took a long time but we made it. The employees got a raise and kept our longevity.” The union bargaining team was led by staff representative Jay Ferraro with Jackson, Jim Gander, Jim Oaks, Lynn Howell, Pam Johnson, Meghan Celia, Mike Delgado, Bryce Franck, Craig Hurless and Amanda Rinaldo. Bolingbrook: ‘Hard fought’ contract yields modest gains WAGES GO UP 1.5 PERCENT IN each year of a three-year contract between Local 2014 and Bolingbrook village employees. Employee payments for health-insurance premiums go up 10 percent in 2011 and 2012. Prescription co-payments go up $10 for generic drugs and $20 for brand names. The contract and raises are retroactive to May 1, 2009, with laid off employees getting the back pay for the time they worked after that date. “We didn’t expect to get a lot because of the economic times,” said Jeff Intravaia, the local union president. “It was hard fought to get what we did. There’s a crisis going on in the whole country.” Looking ahead to the upcoming budget process, he said it was probable that there would be no recalls of currently laid off workers, but no new layoffs. The negotiating committee was led by staff representative Maggie Lorenc, with Intravaia, Guy Degrado, Robin Turner, Jason Arthur, Jen Regalado and Phillip Carpenter. Local 38 pitches in Continued from page 10 lies together. It’s different than other schools. Teachers donate their time to go out of state.” She said AFSCME Local 3549, the deaf association, the Lions Club and other groups raise money for the extracurricular activities. People donate quilts. They make hats and scarves. AFSCME is part of that support effort, Cockerill said. “We know what a benefit it is for them to compete with other kids who have the same special needs. That makes it important for us.” 14 On the Move April 2011 RETIREE NOTES Retirees fight back with benefits under attack SEN. JEFF SCHOENBERG, CHAIR of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, is leading the charge to squeeze dollars out of state and university retirees’ pockets by making them pay more for health care. At his initiative COGFA has unanimously approved a study of the best way to implement new charges for retirees’ health insurance. Schoenberg had earlier released a “study” to the media purporting to show that the average household income of state and university retirees is more than $77,000. It claimed that 90 percent pay nothing towards their healthinsurance, while active employees at the same or lower income levels do make contributions. He concluded that given Illinois’ dire fiscal situation, retirees’ health-care contributions should be increased to achieve “sizeable” savings for the state. “Schoenberg’s claim regarding the average income of retirees is wildly inflated,” Council 31 retiree coordinator Maria Britton said. “Most retirees don’t have anything close to $80,000 in annual income. And, contrary to his assertions, no state or university retiree pays ‘nothing’ when co-pays and deductibles are taken into account. AFSCME’s position is clear — any proposed changes to retiree health care benefits must be negotiated with the union.” Retirees have an important role to play in stalling Kankakee road named for a Chapter 31 founding member WHAT WAS EAST 2000S ROAD IN Kankakee County is now Honorary Elvia Steward Road, named after one of the founding members of Illinois Chapter 31 Retirees. The tribute to the 94-year-old Steward, was arranged by the Rev. Rodney Lake and County Board representative Cherie McBride, for her many years of service to her community. Steward has the distinction of being the oldest parishioner of the pastor’s church. She was recently honored by the county Democratic Party, after serving for years as a precinct committeewoman, many of them as the county’s oldest. Now she’s most proud, not of getting a road named in her honor, but of getting results in moving officials to pay more attention to area roads. She has lobbied U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, state Sen. Toi Hutchinson and state Rep. Lisa Dugan on the matter and recently thanked them for their efforts. Steward worked at Manteno State Hospital from 1963 to 1980. She served as Pembroke Township Clerk, retiring in 2000. The many groups she’s been active in include her church, where she has taught Sunday School, the Area Agency on Aging and the Triad group for seniors. When asked about her achievements, she says “I talked to the good Lord, and asked him to take control.” Schoenberg’s effort, Britton said. “As attacks like these on retiree benefits intensify, it’s essential that Chapter 31 members educate their legislators on the real facts about retiree health insurance.” Alton Sub-Chapter 59 President Dorothy Asbury was with a group of retirees who recently did just that. “It has been all too easy for the media to describe public-sector retirees as faceless, wealthy villains,” she said. “We need to remind the public and our lawmakers that we retirees are friends, neighbors and family members that have worked hard for an average yearly pension of $22,000 for state retirees and $34,000 for university retirees.” Illinois’ late payments to health providers hurt seniors THE STATE’S INABILITY TO PAY its vendors in a timely manner is having negative effects on retirees who rely on the group insurance plan. A nearly one-year backlog in payments of bills to medical care providers has forced some retirees to tap into their savings in an attempt to make sure that bills get paid. Some have even found themselves confronted by collection agents. Others have come out of retirement and gone back to work in an effort to cover expenses that are supposed to be covered by the state. Katherine Englespad, 83, has felt the pain from the late payments. Suffering from sciatic problems in her right hip, she has tried to avoid the high expenses of surgery, with alternative healing methods such as acupuncture. “The state is my primary provider for health care,” Englespad said. “I receive supplementary coverage from my husband’s former employer. However, they are unable to pay until the primary payment from Illinois is received. The state is so far behind and we are just being hit with too many bills. This cannot be fair.” Claud Desjardin has similar problems. Since retiring, the former professor from the University of Illinois, has relocated to Maryland. “The state is 42 weeks behind in payments towards my health-care expenses,” Desjardin said. “I send the hospitals letters saying that my payment has been approved by the state, however, after 90 days the bills get sent to collections. This is just not right.” He worries that his credit could be completely ruined. If the state does not begin to fulfill its commitment to the retirees, an already vulnerable population will be financially stretched, some beyond the breaking point. With most seniors already living on a fixed income, they cannot and should not be forced to be weighed down with healthcare expenses that are supposed to be the responsibility of the state. “These longtime public servants spent their lifetimes building this state up to what it is today and deserve to have their promise from the state upheld,” Britton said. “To completely forget them during a time where they rely on the state for such services is both unfair and unjustifiable.” While many may support raising the retirement age as average U.S. life expectancy increases, it is important to note that the life expectancy for working-class Americans has not grown significantly, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In fact, there is a growing disparity in life expectancy between individuals with high and low income. Therefore, any increase in the retirement age would disproportionally burden moderate-income seniors. Contrary to Republican talking points, Social Security doesn’t add a penny to the deficit and currently has a $2.6 trillion surplus. Now it’s up to the U.S. Senate to keep Social Security’s doors open for business. Doris Clark retires Republicans renew attacks on Social Security REPUBLICAN PLANS TO CUT $1.7 billion in Social Security Administration funding would result in delays for up to 400,000 people who need applications processed for retirement, survivor and Medicare benefits. “I regret we may not be able to keep our commitment to the American people because we don’t have the necessary support to move forward,” SSA Commissioner Michael J. Astrue testified to a Senate subcommittee hearing on House Continuing Resolution 1. “We cannot meet our stewardship duties unless Congress provides us the funds to do the job. “For most existing benefits, checks will go out and they will not see an interruption of service, but if you are a new applicant or have a change of address then we can’t guarantee timely processing.” Another 290,000 people in need of disability benefits will see long delays in the approval process that already takes an average of nearly 500 days as a result of staff shortages. Democrats argue that defunding the administrative budget is a backdoor attempt to undermine the entire system and diminish the public’s faith in the program. Witness House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who recently said, “When you look at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid…they’re not sustainable at current levels…. We’re going to have to make some changes.” This is not the first attack on Social Security in recent months. The president’s bipartisan deficit commission proposed raising the Social Security retirement age to 69 and changing the way the annual cost-of-living allowance is calculated. DORIS CLARK, WHOSE DRIVE AND persistence earned her a place as a national leader of union retirees, has stepped down as president of Jacksonville Subchapter 82 after 23 years in the post. Clark had served as president of Chapter 31 and of the national AFSCME retiree organization. “Her energy and determination helped build and maintain this organization since its inception,” Council 31 retiree coordinator Maria Britton said. “She has led the fight for nearly three decades to protect the benefits that public sector retirees worked for by educating, mobilizing and uniting them.” Clark will be honored by her sub-chapter and by the new president, Steve Radliff, who has expressed his appreciation to Clark for helping him learn the ropes. Florence Blimling who has served with Clark as a subchapter officer since 1994 said, “Doris has the best memory of anyone I have ever known and has been a joy to work with.” She believes that Clark has been a shining example for AFSCME retirees, someone who is well known by her lawmakers and who won’t hesitate to organize fellow retirees to support or oppose those legislators based on their records on retiree issues. “On behalf of our entire union, we would like to extend a big ‘thank you’ to Doris for her many years of service,” Council 31 Director Henry Bayer said. On the Move April 2011 15 State employees can move up with UMP Promotional opportunities in 60 state titles n opportunity to advance to more challenging, higher paying positions is open during the May 1-31 annual Upward Mobility Program enrollment period for certified state employees covered by the AFSCME master contract. A w UMP WAS FIRST NEGOTIATED BY COUNCIL 31 IN 1989 AND HAS BECOME A MODEL FOR OTHER employers around the country. Since it started operation in 1991, UMP has helped more than 4,500 union members advance to their targeted job titles. Unfortunately, despite it’s relatively low cost, the program, which insures that the state will have a pool of trained career employees to staff important posts, has been targeted by Senate Republicans for elimination in the budget proposal they recently put forward. The program opens the door to promotions for which employees would not otherwise have job rights. Once enrolled, employees meet with counselors at their work sites to identify a “target title” and develop an individualized education plan. They get career counseling and directpaid educational opportunities. Once the employee has completed the educational and testing requirements they get an Upward Mobility certificate, which gives priority for the next vacancy in that title in any agency, even if the title is in another bargaining unit. Titles divided into three categories THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT types of titles available among the 60 UMP target titles — certificate, credential and dual titles. Certificate titles require the completion of a written examination. Once a program participant becomes proficient in all test sections, he or she will be placed on an eligibility list for that title in seniority order. Candidates for credential titles must complete a specified academic degree. They must then submit an UMP promotional application and final transcript and are then placed on the eligibility list in seniority order by grade. For dual titles, participants are placed on the eligibility list by either taking the written examination or by acquiring the specified degree. UMP wants to hear from state employees “WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE THIS already great program even better,” AFSCME UMP coordinator Chris Goodman said. “Whether you have been in the program or not, we would like to know what you think about UMP. If you were or are in the Upward Mobility Program, what do you think we can to do make it better? Or is there a specific reason you haven’t joined? Do you have an idea for UMP? Let us know.” Email comments or questions to [email protected]. Direct any questions regarding UMP registration or the survey to Chris Goodman at Council 31, 217-7882800, ext. 3348, or at [email protected], or call the UMP office at 800-4421300, ext. 6. AFSCME BACKS CANDIDATES FOR SERS TRUSTEES AFSCME members who participate in or receive benefits from the State Employees’ Retirement System have a vital interest in who sits on the Board of Trustees. These two longtime union activists will provide a voice for state employees on the board. They will work to: • Protect the benefits of employees and retirees; • Ensure responsible investment; and • Speak out against the attacks on public employee pensions. BALLOTS WILL BE MAILED MAY 2 AND MUST BE RETURNED BY MAY 31. ACTIVE EMPLOYEES – LORI LAIDLAW Lori has served as a trustee for the past five years, and was elected Vice-Chair and Executive Committee member by her fellow SERS trustees. She’s a 27-year Department of Corrections employee who served as an AFSCME local union president for 15 years. She was on the union bargaining committees that won substantial pension improvements for state employees in 1998 and 2001. RETIREES – SHIRLEY BYRD Shirley is a strong advocate for retirees with a long record of service in her community. She retired in 1991 after working at Manteno State Hospital for 21 years and the Tinley Park Mental Health Center for 7 years. She is an executive vice president of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 31 and has served as Mayor of the Village of Sun River Terrace. 16 On the Move April 2011 Living wage – Out of reach for many families W orking families are struggling to get through one of the worst economic downturns in 75 years. Yet the corporate elite continues to demand more sacrifices. Plant and facility closings, layoffs, furloughs, wage freezes, Housing – rent was calculated using “roughly” the median rent benefit cuts and shifting of health-care costs have spread from the in an area or a little below. The amount includes shelter rent plus private sector to the public sector. the cost of all tenant-paid utilities. But the cost of telephones, cable Yet pressures persist to lower wages even further – especially or satellite television service and internet service weren’t included. those of public-sector workers, who are portrayed as lazy and Food – Costs of food are based on the U.S. Department of overpaid. Agriculture official food plans, which estimate a family’s cost for a But how far nutritionally down can families adequate diet. go? Not much. For the livingMedian household wage budget A living wage for a family of four income in 2009 was EPI used the chicago $52,029 – in other “low-cost plan,” in Illinois is $51,916 words, half the which is a very households in the basic diet that median United States made assumes almost more than that, and all food is prehalf made less. pared in the springfield How much is home. $52,029? We turned Child care – to the Economic Child care estiPolicy Institute for mates use the answers. EPI has cost of sending carbondale devised a method a four-year-old Note: By definition, half the families earn less than the median. for figuring what a to day care and living wage, or an eight-year“basic family budold to afterget” would be. school care. Using the EPI formula, researchers at Pennsylvania State UniTransportation – This is figured on the National Household versity calculated the average living wage for an Illinois family of four Travel Survey’s average distance traveled per household and the Internal Revenue Service’s cents-per-mile allowance. (figures vary by region) in 2009 was $51,916 or $24.96 an hour for Health care – Costs estimates based on a health maintenance a 40-hour week. organization modest-coverage plan with a $500 deductible, a 20 In other words, almost half of Illinois households earn less than percent co-insurance rate, and a $15-20 doctor-visit co-payment. it takes for a family of four to “maintain a safe but modest standard Other necessities — Costs incurred by families for items that of living,” according to EPI. are not included above, such as clothing, entertainment, personal care products and services, reading materials, educational materiThe elements of the living wage als, and other miscellaneous but mostly necessary items. Taxes – The final income level was determined by adding PI explained in detail what factors go into that modest stantogether the above factors and calculating how much total income dard of living figure. As anyone can see, a family isn’t living it would take to have that sum remaining after taxes are taken out. high off the hog at $50,000 a year. E