OTM JAN 04 - AFSCME Council 31

Transcrição

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.”
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
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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
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.”
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 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.”
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.
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.
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

OTM JAN 04 - AFSCME Council 31

Transcrição

Documentos relacionados

CSWU-Gen U #6-Mar 2013-Web.indd

- LSE Research Online

Discussion note - European Federation of Journalists

September

Minimum Wage Report

Minimum Wage Increases in a Recessionary Environment

The Impact of School Voucher Systems on Teacher Quality in Public

The Future of The State

Appellant`s Brief in Chief

Wage bargaining under the new European Economic

the tragedy of the private the potential of the public

Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The

the pdf here

tiger tribune - The Official Site - Varsity.com

Bargaining over Babies: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications