AFSCME refused to endorse anyone in the governor’s race this year and a showdown has been expected between the union and Gov. Blagojevich. Henry Bayer took the first post-election shot yesterday.

In a speech laced with enough purported monetary injustice to get any working stiff’s blood to a rolling boil, AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer described the state of Illinois government Wednesday night at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The Cliff Notes diagnosis: State government is in an all-out crisis.

Bayer, who oversees 200 unions covering 44,000 employees in Illinois, spoke at the Student Center in a speech presented by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. The short but not-so-sweet presentation of public policy according to AFSCME slammed re-elected Gov. Rod Blagojevich for allowing a $3 billion-a-year budget deficit into his financial plans, lamented the $48 billion deficit plaguing the state pension system as well as understaffing at many state agencies and kicked the already down former Gov. George Ryan for his early retirement incentive, which ushered the exit of 11,000 state workers in 2001 but never quite re-staffed the empty positions.

Despite the campaign promises both voters and political candidates have likely forgotten one week after the election, Bayer said the current roster of state leaders doesn’t appear ready to take on what he called a “structural deficit” that exists in the Illinois revenue system. […]

Blagojevich is holding fast to his renewed no-tax-increase promise for the upcoming second term, and Bayer indicated during both his speech and the question/answer session that followed, the administration will have no shortage of “schemes” to prop up increased government spending with one-time funding sources - a tactic Bayer described simply as “bad public policy.”

“It’d be one thing if we were a Third World country, if we didn’t have the resources � but in fact we do if you look at what’s going on in the economy,” he said.

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE *** From an AFSCME press release:

Weighing in on the much-debated proposal to raise the statewide minimum wage, the largest union of public service workers in Illinois says the hike should be accompanied by a pay increase for the very low-paid employees of community-based nonprofit agencies that provide direct services to individuals with developmental disabilities.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 has made a pay increase for direct-care workers its top legislative priority in the General Assembly’s current veto session.

“We support the proposal to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation,” AFSCME executive director Henry Bayer said. “At the same time, we think the General Assembly has an opportunity to lead the way to higher pay by raising the rate at which it reimburses community-based nonprofit agencies for serving individuals with developmental disabilities.” […]

More than 15,000 individuals with developmental disabilities are served in community settings by agencies that receive almost all of their income from state reimbursements. But those reimbursement rates are too low, too infrequently adjusted, and don’t keep pace with inflation. As a result, most direct-care workers today have incomes below the federal poverty line.

“Low pay leads to high turnover in these agencies, which in turn places a cost burden on the employer and drives down the quality of care available to consumers,” AFSCME director Bayer said. “As lawmakers consider raising the minimum wage, they must make sure direct-care workers aren’t forgotten. If other private employers raise wages but the state doesn’t keep its reimbursement rates ahead of the curve, turnover among the direct-care workforce will only get worse.”