66 Comments - Vote Quimby! - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:00 am: ===Families can still sign up — after all, the program isn’t called All Kids for nothing.=== Cheez….did the PR firm write the S-T editorial? And does Illinois really have the lowest state payroll per capita? - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:04 am: I have to agree with Miller on some government workers. I’ve had two very positive experiences recently with government workers. The first was with David Orr’s office, to get birth certificates for my twins. Short lines, efficient service, and the job was done right. That office has been automated to a great degree which helps, and at least the day I was there, the staff was very helpful (as opposed to the rude staff that was there a few years ago). The second was in dealing with a passport renewel. Despite 7 years of college, I had a tough time figuring out from the U.S. State Dept’s website how to get a renewed quickly. So I walked over to City Hall, and the person in the Clerk’s office walked me through it. Very nice, very understanding, very efficient. Hopefully any future dealings will go as well but in the meantime, I’ve got nothing against giving government employees fair wages and reasonable benefits.* * Other than CTA drivers who all should have wages cut in half, but that is another matter. - Long-time Lurker - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:04 am: Is it just me? Why did the state feel compelled to offer incentives (gas cards) to get people to apply for the All Kids program? Isn’t health insurance enough? - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:05 am: Thoughts: 1. The Sun-Times is in the midst of a well-deserved nervous breakdown. Check out the ad hole. The only constant revenue stream they have is for the naughty places in the back of sports. Some good people at the Sun-Times, but they are constantly lurching back and forth between solid journalism and criticism and manic tabloidism. They do good investigative work on corruption and then partner up with the governor. They’re on a kids kick in recent years — mostly sick and dead ones. 2. I won’t beat down state workers, either, but healthcare costs bring out an every-man-for-himself in everyone. We’re all paying more. Maybe worst of all, small business owners who do the right thing are getting squeezed, and are holding off hiring permanent workers because they don’t want to pay for the healthcare package. It needs a national solution. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:07 am: VQ, the state was ranked 50th in per capita payroll BEFORE the early retirement plan. - Anon - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:08 am: One thing rarely mentioned in articles like these is that AFSCME refused to endorse any gubernatorial candidate in 2006, after being knocked around by the administration following its 2002 endorsement. The union also enraged the Senate Democrats by putting up candidates. So, it’s definitely political payback time. You omitted the part about how the union claimed to their membership that the last contract they negotiated with Blagojevich gave them the best contract in the nation. They returned the favor by abandoning or working against the people that made that possible, so this will probably get ugly for ugly’s sake. - Siyotanka - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:11 am: Gee…gas cards for sign-ups? Kinda like buying votes…Hum? - Princeville - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:14 am: Are you suggesting, anon, that the governor out of ‘revenge’ may not bargain in good faith, we’ve ticked him off so we must pay for our ’sins’? - Anon2 - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:16 am: The individuals that say State workers are overpaid are not State workers. They complain because they can. If they had their take home pay cut they would complain even louder! They are probably already making more money and are afraid their taxes might go up. - Ghost - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:19 am: This is not about “State Workers” it is about a portion of state workers who have had generous compensation packages for years paid for by by salaried non-union employees. keep in mind the Union is asking for guarnteed raises for employees regardless of work product. So they are seeking raises for the bad employees who do little to no work along with the ones who work hard. The State needs a uniform compensation board that set standards and determines raises and COLA’s for all employees. We need to put in a merit based raise system. Union employees should have to show they are actually doing a good job to get raises. let the Good State workers get raises by earning them, not just because time has passed. - Princeville - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:27 am: Ghost, workers are eval’d very year. Bad employees not doing their work can also be reprimanded at any time and reprimands can go as far as dismissal. And merit system? Ask the MC workers how that one is going. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:32 am: I always throw the same question at everyone who complains that public employees are overpaid, whether its state workers or school teachers: “If its such a cushy job, why haven’t you applied?” Without exception, they always change the subject. - Anon - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:38 am: I think that the Governor wants a government shut down with a strike. If AFSCME strikes for 3 or 4 months, the Governor balances the budget without a tax increase. The Governor can blame the union that did not support him in the last election. Meanwhile all the AFSCME kids sign up for his healthcare program. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:44 am: And let me add: Anyone who thinks that there are no ghost workers, overcompensated workers, or under-performing workers in the private sector is DELUDED. “Yeah, but my tax dollars aren’t paying for them.” That’s right, you pay for them every time you go to the store or pay your cable t.v. bill, from the Wall Street Journal: Companies Promise CEOs Lavish Posthumous Paydays Options Vest, Insurance Flows; Even Salaries May Continue You still can’t take it with you. But some executives have arranged for the next best thing: huge corporate payouts to their heirs if they die in office….as of Dec. 31, Mr. [Ralph J.] Roberts [Comcast Board President] was entitled to an estimated $87 million in posthumous benefits from the Philadelphia-based cable-television company… Comcast is still committed to paying the salary of Mr. Roberts’s son, CEO Brian L. Roberts, for five years after his death in office, along with his bonus for five years. The potential payout was valued at more than $60 million on Dec. 31. The 48-year-old CEO’s heirs would also receive $223 million from his company-funded life insurance. And the heirs would be entitled to an acceleration of stock awards and other payments, which would have totaled $14 million had he died on the last day of 2007. “We think the compensation has been grossly too high already” at Comcast, said Glenn Greenberg, a partner at Chieftain Capital. “There’s no need to pay them more when they’re dead.” Chieftain has been seeking the ouster of the younger Mr. Roberts and the end of a two-tier stock arrangement that gives the Roberts family voting power beyond the number of shares it holds. Comcast’s Mr. Cohen called the five years of postmortem salary and bonus for the chief executive “fair and reasonable.” He noted that many large companies offer death benefits. Five years of salaries and bonuses after you’re dead? Now THAT’S ghost-payrolling. But according to Comcast, it’s “fair and reasonable.” - Little Egypt - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:46 am: The payback to AFSCME comes at the expense of the rank and file, unfortunately. My spouse and Little Little Egypt #2 both have (had) careers in State government. I would put their work ethic head and shoulders above the public perception of what state employees are. I’m extremely proud of both. This guvna speaks with forked tongue. He wnnts the All Kids but wants it on the backs of State employees paying more for their healthcare. He wants a leaner/meaner State workforce, yet continues to take his own payraises. He doesn’t mind uprooting over 100 Traffic Safety employees yet he utilizes Illinois Air Farce One as often as possible just so he can be at home (at least most) every night to tuck his kiddies into bed. He’s unable to recognize hypocricy when he sees it in the mirror. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:51 am: Following up on Yellow Dog’s comments — For all those who complain about government employees: How was the service the last time you went into Walgreen’s? Or Macy’s? or the last time you had to deal with United Airlines? Face it — bad service is everywhere. - ChampaignDweller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:01 am: I’ve sat on the other side of the table from unions protecting the worst-performing employees imaginable. I’d say 90% of union time is taken defending 10% of their rank and file who refuse or can’t perform well. With most union contracts and arbitrators hearing cases, it’s virtually impossible to get rid of an employee unless they’ve killed someone or committed grand larceny. I actually had an AFSCME rep. tell me one time that there was nothing in the contract that said the workers had to report for work, ever. Having said that, however, there are some very good government workers who do their jobs, and do them well. Unfortunately, with this governor, who you know and who you pay off are more important than whether you can do the job. I suppose it’s popular for the governor to try to tap into public anger over the government and balance his budget on the backs of the rank and file. You’ll never see him advocate, however, for any of his department heads, or other cronies, to take the same reduction in pay and benefits. - Princeville - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:23 am: anon–AFSCME kids (yeah kids the one the gov does not care about) can’t sign up for All Kids. Rules are rules and if I strike my kids don’t fit the rules to sign up for All Kids. Not because I strike but because the workers income with the fact their kids have had healthcare over the last year. That’s so people don’t drop insurance and go on the state cover programs because the people did not want to pay higher premiums from the insurance they did have. - what the? - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:32 am: As with any industry, some people are not paid what they are worth. And in some cases, those individuals should be thankful they are not paid what they are worth. Same holds true in state government. There are good and bad workers everywhere. AFSCME should advocate for their members. However, they should also consider the actual fiscal envirnoment we are now in and realize that their demands may be above amd beyond what can actually be aforded. If they want to strive for more wage increases, that has to be balanced in some manner - higher co-pays or other offsets somewhere else. Another thought, let them have increases, but balance that with the state’s ability to grant those increases based on some performance measures, or even allow the state to cull the “dead wood” from the ranks in exchange for higher salaries. In the end, it may balance itself out. - Weary State Worker - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:32 am: I must say that, as a Merit Comp state worker, I have to agree that there are a lot of lazy, “do the minimum”, state workers out there but they are usually Union titled employees. State employees who are protected by AFSCME know that the only thing that matters is their time on the job. Seniority takes precedence over work ethic and skill 100% of the time. Merit Comp employees went 5 years without ANY raise. Two years ago, we started getting compensated based on our evaluations (for the 1st time since the Ryan admin.) but we too will fall under this new contract regarding the increase in health insurance premiums. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with increases in the cost of living and this will hurt financially. - Truth - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:33 am: AFSCME’s Democrats run the legislature. Their Governor is ruling Illinois. This should be a dream come true. But, they have a historically low number of employees. The working conditions in jails and other facilities are dangerous. Their pensions are poorly funded and under attack. Their health care is now in jeopardy. I don’t think that blind allegiance to Democrats is working out for you all. It could be time to rethink things. It cannot get much worse. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:37 am: ===AFSCME’s Democrats run the legislature. Their Governor is ruling Illinois.=== Truth, you gots a problem with the truth. Try reading the above post. AFSCME is in major hot water with Jones and Blagojevich. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:39 am: “I don’t think that blind allegiance to Democrats is working out for you all. It could be time to rethink things. It cannot get much worse.” Sure it could. They could vote for the GOP, end up with a “right to work” state, see their unions busted, see them fired at will for no reason at all, see their wages cut in half, and see their health insurance benefits ended. It would be just like what happened to the union jobs in Michigan and Ohio who had their jobs sent to Georgia and then south of the border. It could get way worse. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:41 am: === see them fired at will for no reason at all=== Illinois is an employment at will state. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:46 am: Rich, Sure it is, unless there is a union contract, which is my point. The “right to work” states pretty much abolished unions, so workers cannot defend themselves from random termination by joining unions. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:50 am: One problem, though, is that the state with the second most UAW members is Indiana - a right to work state. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:58 am: That just tells me that despite the work of Gov. Daniels, the auto plants haven’t been able to bust the UAW yet. I think we all would accept that Gov. Daniels would love to bust the UAW. That’s what he and much of the rest of the GOP stands for. To digress slightly, that is why so many of the Caterpillar workers were so upset on election day in 2004. I sat with them that day and we saw what was happening in Ohio, and they were appalled. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:59 am: Small or moderate increases in insurance premiums, pension contributions, etc. of maybe 10 or 20 percent each year might be acceptable, given that costs have to be contained; but why 50 or 75 percent all at once, and why now? Don’t forget that merit comp/non-union employees will get hit with the same increases in insurance and premiums as the union, but WITHOUT even the small raises to compensate. . - Cassandra - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:02 pm: Is the guv proposing cutting government employee health care or having employees pay more for what they have? I think it’s reasonable for them to pay whatever private sector employees would pay for equivalent levels of coverage. According to the federal statistics bureau, government and private sector professionals make equivalent hourly salaries (about $31.50 an hour, before benefits), and public service sector employees make about $6 dollars an hour more than private service sector employees-again, before benefits. It is no longer the case that public sector employees trade job security for salary. So, what’s fair? Health care is getting more expensive in the 21st century. Should public sector employees be protected from these increases, and if so, why. Should they have more retirement security than private sector employees and if so, why? Public sector unions have also become a significant force against change in areas such as prisons, the care of the disabled, and child welfare. Illinois’ incarceration rate for African Americans is highly disproportionate as is the rate of African Americans in state foster care. Far too many disabled Illinoisians live in institutions instead of in the community, a point that has been made countless times by an array of advocacy groups. The public employee tail is wagging the social policy dog in so many of these areas of social welfare, to the detriment of the service population and to the taxpayer as well. You won’t hear that from AFSCME. Anyway, the struggle over government dollars and how to apportion them is likely to escalate in a country in which a heavily taxed middle class faces higher prices and reduced economic opportunities for the foreseeable future. And it doesn’t help that many if not most Illinoisians believe that many of their taxes are being siphoned off into various corrupt activities including massive state patronage hiring, inflated contracts and other profitable deals for “campaign contributors,” plus unearned raises for legislators and high level state officials. Not surprising that state employees get lumped in when one considers state government to be one big corrupt enterprise, a failed state so to speak. Illinois really is looking more and more like a dysfunctional foreign country, that is, what the foreign policy wonks call a “failed state.” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:04 pm: Cassandra, I will tell you what I told an earlier commenter. Try visiting a “real” failed state and make the comparison to Illinois. Your hyperbole is getting the better of you. - Johnny USA - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:10 pm: Yellow Dog - You are losing it, man. I’m canceling my subscription to your newsletter. I CANNOT TELL you how many times I have stormed out of a store, or canceled service with a private company because I was jerked around. The feeling I get when I cancel cell phone service due to incompetence, or change where I grocery shop…its pure empowerment. If you have never done this, I highly recommend it. It is quite a charge. Anyone who puts up with substandard service gets what they deserve. And I will tell you this - lots and lots of people think the same way I do. Other states are growing far more rapidly than Illinois, which suggests that other places are a better value to live. And the reason I don’t work for the state? 1) I am not juiced 2) Although it is a cush job (which state employee has ever had to meet a sales quota?), some of us more industrious types know we can do much, much better if we apply ourselves. - Cassandra - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:22 pm: Actually, I have done quite a bit of traveling, including in countries with very dysfunctional governments. I’m an ex-PCV. I’m not living under a haystack. More importantly, what I am saying is, everybody pays when the government is perceived as being seriously dysfunctional and corrupt, and that includes state employees themselves. It’s not their fault but it doesn’t lend itself to wide public support for the state bureaucracy, although I suspect that the most important factor is simply the economic strains we are all (with the exception of economic elites) facing. Can’t blame the guv for that. - Anon - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:22 pm: I think the people who run the Illinois Department of Labor and Illinois Department of Employment Security probably have a responsibility to be exemplary employers themselves. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:29 pm: “Other states are growing far more rapidly than Illinois, which suggests that other places are a better value to live.” OK, now I’ve had my laugh for the day. By that logic, the BEST places to live would be China or India, so population is growing there. I look forward to the next post by “Johnny Indonesia” since I hear the population there is doing pretty well too. - Real Financial Analyst - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:35 pm: As my grandmother said, “The fish rots from the head.” State employees as a group are not significantly different from anyone else when they are hired… the differences in service or performance between any organizations are mostly due to how well the leadership does its job to select, organize and motivate them, and give them appropriate things to do. If you don’t like the results you see, don’t look at the clerk, ask who hired them, who trains them, who supervises them, who disciplines them, who organized the operation. And, who creates the rules under which all that happens. Yes, there are some issues in government that make it harder, because the alternative is giving politicians and their cronies more authority than a prudent taxpayer would want to, but blaming the workers as a group (i.e., the union) is pretty pointless, 9 times out of 10 all you get doing that is to replace one poor schlub with another, who will be poorly managed and perform about the same as the previous one. - Bill - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:36 pm: Bad employees, if they exist, are the fault of poor management, not their unions. Unions do not protect poor employees. They protect their due process. Every union contract, including AFSCME’s, contains fairly negotiated progressive disciplinary procedures, which, if followed properly, could result in termination. If a bad employee survives, it is usually because management is too lazy or too stupid to initiate and follow through with the process. - cermak_rd - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:43 pm: I’ve worked in the private sector my whole life. During bad years for the various businesses I’ve worked at, I’ve had years without raises and have seen a steady rise in the cost of my healthcare package. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect public sector employees to bear the same kinds of burdens when fiscal times are tough for the state. I do, however, think the state should address the safety issues involved with understaffing prisons and inpatient mental facilities in order to provide a safe working environment for both the workers and their wards. - Ex State Employee - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 12:57 pm: The example starts at the top. The governor and legislature haven’t done their jobs, yet they get a major raise. I spent over 20 years with one agency and met some of the most dedicated employees. These people were not serving for a political party, particular governor, or self-gain. They were doing a job for which they received a fair amount of compensation (usually). Their reward, just serving the public with the satisfaction for a job well done. There were also dead beats, some union, some mc. This is no different in the private sector where there are stars, grunts, and deadbeats. The governor entered office and immediately began to use his bully pulpit and berate state employees. Management 101 teaches the use of positive reinforcement for building moral, but that is too complicated for governor with below average skills. Sorry for the rant, but five years of this clown is too much. - Princeville - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:01 pm: Cermak “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect public sector employees to bear the same kinds of burdens when fiscal times are tough for the state. ” Emil Jones salary 2006 81,000, Emil Jones salary desire for 2008, 101,000 . I don’t wanna hear, ties are tough and we all should do our share when I see this raise on the horizon. - Lurker - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:13 pm: We need union protection more than ever with this reckless administration. Merit Comp employees who complain about AFSCME workers are just jealous that their positions haven’t yet been unionized. PSAs were MC for years. Now they are working toward AFSCME membership. Give it a few months and THEN we’ll see how many of them are complaining about work ethics. - Crafty Girl - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:27 pm: I have no problem with asking State employees to make fair contributions to healthcare and pensions. But there are two things that continuely bug me in stories about State employees, their benefits etc. One, the constant harping that ALL state/public sector employees are “lazy”, “incompetent”, “make 100K a year”, and so on. Are all corporate CEOs corrupt because one guy I read about in the news stole from the company–No. Are all retail sales workers lazy because I spent 30 minutes at a big box this weekend looking for someone to help me?–No. Are all fast food workers stupid because someone gave me the wrong change at the drive through?–Again No. The second is this perceived notion that somehow because the pension system is underfunded because of the State employees and only the employees. All the articles completely miss the fact that past Administrations/General Assembly agreed to take on that obligation, often during contract negoations, and then decided not to live up to those obligations. The State hasn’t even followed through on its own plan to pay back some of that pension debt. Meanwhile, employees continue to live up to their end of the bargain and make contriubtions out of every paycheck. The pension system is a mess and maybe should be reformed, but to say its “all” the fault of too generous benefits to employees is unfair. Healthcare is whole other matter, no matter if you work in the private sector or the public sector. But I won’t even go down the single payer road. - Ebenezer - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:30 pm: What an appropriate time for AFSCME to be crying about salary and benefits. The economy is tanking and most Illinoisians would love to have just a shot at a state job. Can’t AFSCME see that the revenue stream is non-existent and the crisis we are all in? It doesn’t sound like these concessions are all that bad, sounds like it would still be a pretty sweet deal working for the state even if these changes are put forth. They need to take off the goggles. - Lurker - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:42 pm: If they can give themselves a raise, they can afford to increase the pay of the folks who do the actual HARD LABOR. - Truth - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 1:57 pm: Yes, Rich, AFSCME is in hot water with Jones and Blago. What I am saying is they helped put those two men where they are. They invested in them and many, many of the other Democrats who run things in Springfield. They are not getting a good return on their investment. You must concede that? Skeeter, some day you folks are going to understand that Republican policies are way better for union members and blue collar workers than Democrat policies. Some day. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 3:08 pm: OK - you know-it-alls! How many of you would be willing to take a pay cut, courtesy of a governor who has made it his job to talk trash about most state workers? From his first month in office, Rod Blagojevich has painted most state workers with a broad brush. His deputy referred to the mass retirement of senior workers as, “not like it is a brain drain or something”. Blagojevich actually showed up at the state capitol with a list of state employees he claimed gamed the system regarding vacation pay and the list included a gentleman who was dead, remember? This governor has turned finger-pointing into an executive power play, and no one is immune, except him. So AFSCME didn’t endorse Blagojevich. This was an honest decision in light of the “where’s mine?” attitude passing for honesty currently on display in the General Assembly. Unlike the GA, state workers do not automatically get pay raises, and unlike the GA, actually work for their wages. So all of you wise guys and gals who enjoy discussing how to trim state budgets on state worker’s backs, ask yourself if you can take a wage cut right now. Because that is what this anti-civil servant governor of ours is doing to the only group of people doing the jobs Illinoians depend upon. - cermak_rd - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 3:21 pm: Princeville, So Emil Jones got a decent raise and maybe the workers won’t. Par for the course. At companies I’ve worked at where they cut workers, had all employees take unpaid days off and not provided raises to employees, the execs have gotten lucrative bonuses, golden parachutes, etc. - ChampaignDweller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 3:23 pm: He can’t trim positions–it’s already getting dangerous to work in the prisons due to the shortgage of manpower. Wait until DCFS screws up a case because of a shortage of manpower, and a court has to order the STate to staff it in order to meet the law. Even though it’s a drop in the bucket, the General Assembly should take the raises they’re giving themselves and give it to State workers. At the rate we’re going, there won’t be enough workers to hand out those food stamps that Emil Jones claims he needs. - Bill - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 3:31 pm: Vnailla Man-Champion of working men and women everywhere! - Skeeter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 3:40 pm: “Skeeter, some day you folks are going to understand that Republican policies are way better for union members and blue collar workers than Democrat policies. Some day.” How’s that working in Georgia and Alabama? They got all those nice formerly union jobs, and now those people are out of work again (seems that other people will work for even less). I do have to say that the final “some day” was very moving and persuasive. You almost had me convinced. - Truth - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 4:28 pm: Some Day. Got you yet? All I’m saying is the party that claims to be union friendly and is supported by unions is not helping AFSCME. Over the last 30 years, has AFSCME done better under Republican Governors or Democrat ones? That’s all. - whatever one - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 4:46 pm: At least AFSCME tries to help their union people, which is more than the Teamsters do. The Teamsters are a joke. - Former State Worker - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 5:16 pm: As a former state merit comp worker I don’t have too many positive things to say about the union. Many (not all) union employees did the minimum, took the maximum and complained all the way to retirement. Management’s efforts to weed out the worst of them was halted by union grievances and the archaic system. People should be paid on their merit and productivity, not by the number of years and outdated titles. And everyone should pay their fair share for health benefits. I hope they decide on a contract so the state doesn’t shut down and hurt those employees who do good work and depend on their paychecks, but I can’t say I am rooting for AFSCME. - Concerned Voter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 5:27 pm: I attended a seminar at a school about all kids last year, I was curious to see what the details were. I was amazed. Here is a link to one of the all kids info pages, http://www.allkids.com/income.html Now, to me the idea of all kids was for lower income income, poverty level, people having difficulty obtaining health insurance, or even transitioning from one job to another. But look at the figures. Basically anyone can get all kids insurance, it’s a sliding scale. A family of three (2 adults and 1 child) can get all kids for their child even if they make over $140,000 a year gross income. I don’t know about you, but our gross is nowhere near that. And besides, I would think a family making that kind of money would either have jobs that had some kind of insurance or could afford to get it without state subsidy. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 5:29 pm: ===I would think a family making that kind of money would either have jobs that had some kind of insurance or could afford to get it without state subsidy.=== Then you don’t know much about the travails of small business owners who have family members with preexisting conditions. - Concerned Voter - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 5:46 pm: Rich, true, I don’t know about what you mentioned, what I do know is that my family of 3 gross is a little over 42% of that $140,000 figure, yet we have health insurance through work, that I have to pay into for coverage. It could turn into a shifting of beans from one pile to the other. If the guv hits state employees with the additional costs for health insurance, it might be cheaper for those employees to drop kids from their work plans and sign up for all kids. - Princeville - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 6:00 pm: Well, cermak, then with that attitude maybe we could just make one exception for ol’ Emil and let him go ahead and apply for the ‘food stamps’ he jested he needed. Difference between the private sector and Emil is the people voted for Emil and he’s accountable to them. How much money could be added to the general funds if te state decided to take a few tax breaks away from the companies and your big tops took a hit? Or the money was taken away that helps small business owners start up? The state is not the private sector and can not be ran as if it were. Can you imagine what Rod would be paid if his wages were based on his job approval ratings? Quit frankly ya all get a total free pass to judge, bash, kick whatever AFSCME the rest of the day and next several. I’m tired. We just keep rehashing the same old things. Have a great evening and I hope your boss continues to treat you fairly or unfairly or whatever it is you want. - Ultra50k - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 7:42 pm: Former State Worker, you sound like one of those yes men, tunnel vision, administrative lap dogs that spent their whole career impeding good employees from getting the job done. Anyone who thinks state workers deserve a pay cut and increases in health care should come do our job. There are less of us every day, and more to do. Everyone…even the so-called lazy ones are working very hard, doing sometimes very undesirable jobs that most people would never want to do. If you think we need our wages and benefits cut maybe you can pay our bills, or maybe you won’t be affected in the private sector when we can’t afford to buy your product. - look in the mirror - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 8:04 pm: Since the general feeling of Merit Comp employees is to “bash” the Union state employees I suggest those merit comp employees look in the mirror. In most cases they didn’t even EARN their jobs. They are political favor paybacks. They don’t have to have any experience in the positions they are assigned to. They just need to know or be related to someone who can find a job for them. It is a rare moment when someone comes from the bottom and has worked their way to the top. It is much easier to appoint a “family member” or “friend of the family”. If you’re really lucky you can just write a check to the Governor’s daughter and that too will eventually pay off in your favor. - nieva - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 8:06 pm: Yes we make good money.Yes we have good benefits. I don’t expect a big raise. All I would like to do is hold my own and not lose what we have struggled to achieve over the last twenty years. State jobs were not always good paying with benefits. It has taken years to get where we are now, and without the union we would still be working for subpar wages and benefits. I pay the union around 800.00per year to represent me and if I choose not to join and pay fair share I would still pay 788.00 dollars per year. The union is not always right in the way the deal with the state,but understand without them we would be in a world of hurt!! - Emily Booth - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 9:29 pm: Blagoyevich always likes a lot of drama, doesn’t he? Instead of efficient, well-run government, we get stand-offs, ultimatums, hystrionics and finger-wagging. What leadership. Yeah. Right. - Bookworm - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 10:09 pm: People who work for the state are not the only ones feeding off the government’s, um, mammary glands! Large private employers like Cat, State Farm, Deere, etc. certainly receive many breaks from local and state government, not just tax wise but with regard to zoning and other regulations. Not to mention the Wal-Marts and other businesses who demand TIFs and other tax breaks and threaten to leave or locate elsewhere if they don’t get them. So people who work for such companies are also benefiting at the expense of the taxpayers, albeit more indirectly. - Big Mama T - Tuesday, Jun 24, 08 @ 11:24 pm: Wow. I was with the state for 16 years, the last to with the clown who is still the Guv. When he came in it was open season on MC workers. I have never seen such shabby treatment of employees. The sole purpose of the crack down was to implement the “friends and family program”, not to remove dead weight. I have never seen so many unqualified mopes showing up on Mondays. It got to be a sick joke. I became really sick when it was discovered these Bozo’s were routinely being paid $60,000 - $80,000 to start, then given regular 10% raises, state vehicles and 4 hour work days. - Disgusted - Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 6:06 am: If there is a problem with state employees not doing their jobs or performing poorly, I agree with previous posters that it is a management problem. I’ve been on interviews with the state and the people doing those interviews are totally incompetent. The interviews don’t relate in any way to the descriptions of the positions as posted in the state job system and are very deceiving. For Rutan positions, they ask a series of questions, most unrelated to the job for which you are applying and they write down the answers. You can’t ask your questions about the job. They refuse to answer any question you ask. Then there are the 7 day postings which all state workers recognize as being already decided, so if you apply, you are just being used by the incompetent system. There is much touting of the new employment system so that the general public can get a fair shot at state positions but it’s a farce. The only people moving in and up are “friends of the state” or political hires, who start out at a salary that most current workers will never see, no matter how hard they work or how well. For instance, one bureau chief (PSA, probably making over $100K) rose from an administrative assistant to an SPSA in 7 years. It takes most regular, non-connected state employees 20 years or more to rise up through the ranks and precious few reach SPSA status. Add to this mix the directive, although not written but known, that no matter how well you do your job, your yearly evaluations cannot be elevated beyond the level they were when the governor took office. This makes people look like they are sleep walking through their jobs when in actuality, most are doing the work of two or more people because those jobs that are vacated are never filled, unless they are top management. The state has managers who supervise as few as two people and multiple managers in a division is a given. - Johnny USA - Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 7:38 am: Skeeter - Are you a product of public schools? You need to go back to 2nd grade. China and India are not states in the United States. They are independent countries. Swing by my office and I’ll show you them on a map. I’ll show where the US is too, just for reference. (And just for kicks - look up the growth rate in China. You’ll be quite surprised!) - DGK - Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 8:19 am: I think maybe the 800 pound gorilla in the room is that AFSCME is just not a very effective union. The “war” mentality is fun to a point but very counterproductive. A good union represents its good members and tries its damnedest to help them be successful, which coincidentally benefits the employer and in turn the employees some more. It is a beautiful, mutually beneficial relationship when it works. Rightly or wrongly, you can lay all the blame you want on an unpopular Governor, but Mr.Bayar who runs AFSCME is just not an effective leader. - Lurker - Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 12:31 pm: We’ll see how effective he is when that contract is signed. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.