* From a reader…
Rich,
I’m a regular reader of the blog and an infrequent commenter. Not sure if you’ve seen this yet but the Illinois Policy Institute is trying to get AFSCME members to resign their membership to “protect” themselves from “the union’s rules and disciplinary procedures.” I’ve attached pictures of the cover letter they sent and the resignation letter they’re encouraging us to send to AFSCME.
I wasn’t sure whether you’d consider it newsworthy, though it certainly was to me 😊. Feel free to share, though I’d prefer to be kept anonymous.
* The cover letter…
*** UPDATE *** From Anders Lindall at AFSCME…
Through their union, state workers have a voice for fair pay, safe working conditions, affordable health care, a secure retirement and the tools they need to do their jobs.
On the other hand, the Illinois Policy Institute — funded by a half million dollars from Bruce Rauner — wants to privatize public services, replace pensions with Wall Street accounts, double employee health premiums and has even advocated firing all state employees.
I highly doubt whether public service workers who know the real IPI agenda will fall for this deceptive attempt to strip union members of their rights and silence their voices.
- very old soil - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:23 pm:
Paid for by Bruce Rauner. I was fair share when I was working, but would now be paying full dues.
- Honeybear - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:28 pm:
Wow. just wow. With Tillman being so cozy cozy with the Governor, I can imagine this being used as evidence of bad faith bargaining. But you know what? Half of me says let them go. “Get my deck” as one Navy commander I worked with used to say. Fine let them go. I only want to stand with those who want to be with me. Just sayin. I’ve got some here in my office. Let them go. I know this is the wrong response probably to council but it’s my personal feelings.
- Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:28 pm:
Paid when I could, still would.
- Honeybear - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:29 pm:
How did they get our addresses?
- Grimm - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:31 pm:
Aw, you blocked out the number…I’d like to call them and navigate THEIR process…
- walker - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:34 pm:
Why doesn’t Rauner just add Tillman to his official superstar staff? /s
Is Rauner so tied to IPI because he is courting support from their superPAC funders for a future national run?
- Molly Maguire - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:34 pm:
IPI and other Rauner allies have sent operatives in the past to the SEIU Healthcare office during large member meetings to actively get people to withdraw their membership. It was combat duty and didn’t last long. But I believe the mailings still go on. This is the Rauner agenda, and Rauner funding, people.
- AC - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:42 pm:
If the IPI wanted labor peace, they’d encourage people to join, especially if they thought Rauner was being fair in his negotiations with AFSCME. Those who go fair share give up the ability to vote on a contract and potentially a strike.
- Thoughts Matter - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:44 pm:
I refer you to the posts below where our health claims go unpaid and people think they can just steal our pension because they used the money for other things. Our money that we pay in and our employer is supposed to match. I am in a profession that isn’t in a union in the private sector/ but has to be in the public - why? - to protect the public sector employees from the politicians and the private sector.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:46 pm:
AFSCME… Vote accordingly.
Nothing like the flim-flam of “we can’t best em, so let’s weaken em”
Lots of races to show your responses, Labor…
Lots.
- Cubs in '16 - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:48 pm:
As Lennon once said; “strange days indeed”.
- Nick Name - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:54 pm:
Just when you think Rauner and his IPI allies couldn’t stoop any lower…
- Norseman - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 4:55 pm:
Why don’t they simply ask people to wear a kick me sign.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:01 pm:
===Aw, you blocked out the number…I’d like to call them and===
And now you know why I blocked out the number.
lol
- Jon - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:01 pm:
As one who has had AFSCME come to my home uninvited to question why I am a fair share member I have no concerns about this. If it’s okay for AFSCME to try to get fair share members to be full members there is no reason why someone can’t advocate for the opposite.
- Independent Retired Lawyer Journalist - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:02 pm:
The Illinois Policy Institute is so clearly a front for Rauner that it had a seat at the table when Rauner was interviewing replacements for Sen. Murphy the other day that actions like these are acts of Rauner. And while I’m not a labor lawyer, such actions constitute an actionable Unfair Labor Practice, no?
- My New Handle - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:03 pm:
Yes, also wondering how personal addresses to state employees are being obtained by a non-governmental organization. Union mole? Seems like some illicit goings-on here. It’s more than a little scary that people can get away with this.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:04 pm:
” . . . and has even advocated firing all state employees. . . . ”
Did I miss something here? First time I’ve heard this one. Just asking.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:04 pm:
===Did I miss something here?===
Yeah. One of their chief writers in a Tribune op-ed.
- Carhartt Union Negotiating Team - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:05 pm:
I think this IS indeed newsworthy. But, its not some groundbreaking tactic. Democrats, unions and the truly independent media in Illinois should look into all the tactics that have been used by the right-wing millionaire-funded astroturf groups like IPI. This is just another appendix from the cookie cutter playbook. It’s all been used in other states - and with great success.
It should make us all question what IPI really aims to do. Are they truly a “good government” advocate to make sure the playing field is fair for all?
They now own media enterprises, have a legal division that seeks to bog down bureaucracy with FOIAs, they have not-for-profit research divisions that co-mingle with political activities and, clearly, they advise the Governor on his governing.
What is the ripple impact of getting what they want like and end to organized labor and the money that comes with it? Obviously, some change in the power structure on a partisan basis. But what else? Lower taxes? Okay, fine. But what about the core, long-game? It’s actually all about making the whole system less fair for average folks. They seek to establish policies that solidify the power of big funders, corporations, billionaires… There’s a whole lot of bad things that can happen with that.
And it happens slowly, tactic-by-tactic…just like this latest thing.
- Mason born - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:07 pm:
The Irony is that Rauner with his Capt. Ahab routine has done more to encourage Union Membership than anything AFSCME could’ve. If He’d simply negotiated a lean but fair contract back in ‘15 he probably could have added the fair share language w/o much fuss. No way AFSCME gets a strike vote over Fair Share deductions. He really is his own worst enemy.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:07 pm:
Independent just asked the question I was pondering.
Anyone have an informed opinion on this issue?
- Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:13 pm:
I just found this in my mailbox when I got back home from work. It even had an envelope addressed to “Member Services, AFSCME Council 31 here in Springfield. I had a good laugh and it went straight into the shredder.
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:18 pm:
Another Rauner attempt to refund the unions …
- AC - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:21 pm:
==It even had an envelope addressed to “Member Services, AFSCME Council 31 here in Springfield.==
Was it postage paid? If it was, you could fill out a PEOPLE card, or increase your contribution, and have the IPI pay the postage.
- steward - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:26 pm:
I think this strategy has netted them a whopping couple dozen more fair share. Bravo IPI, Bravo… /s
Pretty much everyone who wanted to go fair share did it years ago when their grievance didn’t go the way they wanted. And plenty of those have signed back up after rauner goofed up their pay checks early last year.
- Anonymous - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:29 pm:
Postage paid? No, you have to use your own stamp. I’ve been a full dues paying member for over thirty years. I’m not about to drop out now. Rauner can go **** himself!
- AC - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:32 pm:
==I think this strategy has netted them a whopping couple dozen more fair share. Bravo IPI, Bravo… /s==
If they’d have thrown in Madigan “Obey” t-shirts, they might be able to get 1 or 2 more.
- Sparkles - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:38 pm:
==Was it postage paid? If it was, you could fill out a PEOPLE card, or increase your contribution, and have the IPI pay the postage.==
I probably won’t send a PEOPLE card or increase my contribution, but I’ll definitely send the envelope empty just so IPI has to pick up the tab on postage for nothing…just like I do with all my junk mail.
- Anon - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:40 pm:
Surprised they didn’t try to disguise themselves as AFSCME to trick people into doing it.
- kitty - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:49 pm:
Does the IPE really believe any AFSCME members will believe this nonsense? Truly insulting to one’s intelligence. Carhartt @ 5:05, well said. Sadly, the GOP in Illinois is being taken over by an elite corporate class that advocates policies which diminish middle class standards of living in order to make themselves even richer. I recently visited family living in a southern state with “right to work” and minimal labor p
- kitty - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 5:52 pm:
meant to end my last post by saying minimal labor protections. Lots of low wage jobs, poverty and a large percentage of the population receiving public assistance paid for by taxpayers so that the corporate class make big profits for shareholders, minimal so called “trickle down” supply side benefit whatsoever throughout the state.
- Cubs in '16 - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 6:02 pm:
===Does the IPE really believe any AFSCME members will believe this nonsense?===
They KNOW some members will believe this. I was shocked by how little my coworkers know and/or pay attention. This is why it’s important for the well-informed members to keep coworkers educated.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 6:22 pm:
This is small potatoes compared with a Trump victory and a right wing SCOTUS. That’s where the real threat lies, not just in Illinois but nationwide.
- AC - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 6:28 pm:
==This is small potatoes compared with a Trump victory and a right wing SCOTUS==
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Ass’n would be repeated for certain. That would equal national right to work, at least in the public sector and possibly beyond.
- Nothin's easy... - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 6:53 pm:
November 9 is going to be a very interesting day, indeed.
- Hambone - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 7:34 pm:
Always remember (about the IPI):
“As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Institute is not required to disclose its donors.”
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 8:12 pm:
== November 9 is going to be a very interesting day, indeed. ==
Yes, it will be. Illinois level races look pretty easy; pretty sure Rauner’s puppets will mostly get defeated if the D’s get out the vote.
The national one is a big question mark. To my mind, things are too quiet. Yes, I follow all the made up day-by-day “controversies” and I still say that. There is a huge amount of unrest out in Voterland, USA (not to be confused with Madeupville, IL) and I just have a gut felling the pollsters are missing it or being lied to by a version of the “silent majority” … but I’m a contrarian most the time, so what do I know?.
- up2now - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 8:22 pm:
RNUG, I hope you’re wrong, but I think you’re right.
- Huh? - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 8:51 pm:
“Postage paid?”
During the Days of Rage in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, a leader of the Yippies was named Abby Hoffman. He wrote a book titled “Steal This Book”. As I recall, he had a paragraph or two about self address stamped envelopes that used a USPS permit number. He recommended that you paste the envelope to a brick and drop it in the mail. So rather than paying regular postage, the permit holder is paying the postage for the weight of a brick.
Never tried it, always wondered if it would work.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 8:59 pm:
RNUG. My thoughts as well. I know Illinois not really in play, but I am amazed at how many of my trade union running buddies are firmly behind Trump. I attribute it to two things. Social unrest , and the thought that HRC will reshape the SCOTUS and jeapordize gun owmership as we know it.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:04 pm:
RNUG…tough to say. There might be people lying about voting for Trump, but he’s encouraging them the be bold and not hold back and be “politically correct.” The other wild card is the increasing number of homes with no land line…
One thing seems sure at this point: It’s all up for grabs.
- Johnnie F. - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:19 pm:
IPI…Go peddle your crazy somewhere else. State facilities are all full up.
- Hugo Stiglitz - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:37 pm:
May just go fair share here. Understandable that AFSCME would endorse and support Hillary, but not too thrilled about donations to some unsavory outfits. Not to mention that we never do actually get a copy of any type of by-laws upon joining the union, just a bumper sticker and an old edition of the union rag.
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:38 pm:
-up2now-, -blue dog-,
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:39 pm:
RNUG, I thought the only open question about the POTUS race would be the margin of victory for HRC.
I don’t see it that way today. I think she’s done.
- Casual observer - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:46 pm:
Calling Joe Biden. Please help.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:50 pm:
- RNUG -
The citizens of Madeupville are grateful that you made that distinction.
Well done.
- Nothin's easy... - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 9:51 pm:
The people voting on guns are the people that voted on guns. Those who voted on right-to-life will vote right-to-life. Those voting pro-union, vote union. In the end, it’s not more complicated than an ant farm. Generations of data rarely deviate from the mean. So, campers (hat tip to Rich) how are you voting differently than you have in the past?
- Finally Out (and now very glad to be) - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 10:10 pm:
Nothin’s easy…
I’m voting straight Democrat.
Because Rauner.
- Eddy - Monday, Sep 12, 16 @ 10:32 pm:
IPI, GFY, TTFN
- steward - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 6:41 am:
“Not to mention that we never do actually get a copy of any type of by-laws upon joining the union.”
Use teh Google…
http://m.afscme.org/news/publications/afscme-governance/afscme-constitution
And I didn’t even get a bumper sticker. But I did have a fair contract when I started with the state. Some people just aren’t grateful…
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 7:21 am:
===I just have a gut felling the pollsters are missing it or being lied to by a version of the “silent majority”===
Pollsters got it right in the primary, and they got it right during the Nixon silent majority era. And back then it actually was enough to win a majority. Now, not so much.
If you’re in a demographic feedback loop, then that’ll impact your gut feeling.
- Anon - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 8:41 am:
===Now, not so much.===
Agreed. To a certain extent there’s always some folks lying in a polling sample, but for so many polls to be wrong across so many different pollsters with somewhat varying methodology, there’d have to be a huge portion of folks that were planning on voting one way and too ashamed to admit it to a stranger.
And it’s not really fair to the “silent majority” to call people too ashamed to admit how they’re voting a “silent majority”
- Bluegrass Boy - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 10:06 am:
I think these tactics by IPI and Rauner are low - but not surprising. They have not failed to stoop to any level. Makes me sick.
Not a fan of either candidate nationally but I still see a fairly solid HRC victory because of the electoral math. Trump will win “huge” in several states - but HRC should win closer races in the states with large electoral votes. The popular vote does not elect the President.
- d.p.gumby - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 10:40 am:
First, we had “truthiness”–if something felt true, it didn’t matter whether it wasn’t. Next cam “Trumpiness”–even when it is a lie, the next lie comes so quickly, the pants burn so fast and the nose grows so fast, no one can keep up. Now “Bruciness”–throw so much money around to send out so many messages from so many different sources under so many different names that its a corn maze of propaganda.
- Anon - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
I went from being fair share to joining the Union in the past year. If a strike is on the table at some point in the future- I want my vote.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 13, 16 @ 2:59 pm:
I got this mailing yesterday. I called the number and got their voicemail. Unfortunately their “mailbox is full and not able to accept messages”.