143 Comments - Give Me A Break - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:25 am: Gov, you just cost yourself an election. I won’t vote for Brady but I will vote for the Greeny. You can’t balance this budget on the backs of the people who you need to implement your policies at the agency level. I don’t know why you call yourself a Democrat because you sure don’t value the people who work for you. - This Little Piggie - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:29 am: If the state can function with state employees being furloughed over a month a year, one must wonder if there is more fat to cut. - Anonymous - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:29 am: Once again merit-comp employees get screwed! - Stooges - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:30 am: So as a result of the backlash he got for giving big raises to his staff, all of the merit comp managers have to take the time off too? Whether they received the big raises or not? Thats a fair solution for you. This guy is as big an idiot as the guy before him. Lucky for most state employees they are now in a union, mainly because Blago allowed the unions to bring in all of his politically appointed cronies so they’d be protected when the Republicans finally get control back. Lots of state employees were swept into the unions with his cronies. - stella - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:30 am: What a joke. Should have just rescinded the pay raises. Now those people get to keep the raises and everyone else non union in the state gets punished. That’s not shared sacrifice, its bad management. - Cal Skinner - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:31 am: This might provide clues as to whether it makes any difference whether state employees are on the job. My dentist just got paid a bill submitted last September, by the way. - Ludicrous - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:32 am: 24 mandated furlough days for non-union employees and ZERO mandated furlough days for union employees. How is this shared sacrifice? This is an absolute outrage. - Responsa - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:33 am: –Then again, just about everybody is in a bargaining unit these days– I hope some enterprising reporter asks the governor what the exact number of employees involved in the just announced furlough plan is. (besides 18 million dollars worth) - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:33 am: If anyone of you exempt government employees would like to tell me a good reason why union should not be prohibited from government, I’d like to listen. Exempt employees only. - Third Generation Chicago Native - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:35 am: Question will the raises Quinns staff got = 12 unpaid days? Or close? - Former State Employee - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:35 am: Stella said it best - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:35 am: Cincinnatus, why do you think so many people have joined the union? It’s to prevent arbitrary, politically motivated adjustments to their annual income. They learned well under Blagojevich and now Quinn is giving them another lesson. - nick - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:40 am: there are still lots of low level positions such as AA’s and OA’s that are merit comp. - whatever - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:41 am: This is why unions are taking over government. - Stooges - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:44 am: And to prevent arbitrary, politically motivated termination, Rich. - Voice of Reason - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:46 am: Wow. I dont work for the state, but know people who do. This is not fair. Punishing non-union employees because Quinn screwed up and tried to take care of his close personal friends in the Governor’s office? How about asking those that got raises to reduce their pay? 24 furlough days after already taking 12 is WRONG. - um - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:46 am: More then 10 years with no raises for merit comp - 12 days last years - now this - I will forward the collection agency calls to his office - This is an outrage - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:48 am: An ENTIRE MONTH’S SALARY - gone. Unbelievable! - Commonsense in Illinois - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:57 am: So we’re essentially cutting part of the state workforce appropriation by 1/12 and telling key management not to supervise the “indians” for a month. Quinn will play it as “just two days per month…” Will the last person leaving Illinois please pawn the light bulbs? - Unappreciated - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:59 am: As a non-union, merit comp employee, and one who has no political support, all I can say is that, I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m out of here as soon as possible. - One more nail - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:00 pm: So all the people the Quinn will need to help him in the next three months have to pay for his stupid decisions to give raises for his staff. - Anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:02 pm: Harold Washington had this guy pegged. We should have listened. - Christine - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:02 pm: What about making it up with compensatory time or overtime? Does the directive prevent that? - B-non - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:04 pm: Does this apply to exempt employees who work for the Constitutional Officers? - He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:04 pm: OK lets look at this: Furlough days for regular employees (while voluntary for unions) the pay is based on 240 day year. Legislators on 365 day year. Regular Employee gets hosed. MC No raises unless you are Gov office who gets 20% (by the way Unions deferred 1%) Regular employees get hosed. State planes are still flying. Dropping to one flight per day would save big $$. what a joke. - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:06 pm: Christine, why not just click the link and see for yourself? - SAP - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:08 pm: Question: If employee pensions are not impacted, does that mean merit comp takes another pay hit? Because the State quit paying its share of pension contribution for merit comp employees (per Blago Exec Order) several years ago and shifted the burden to the employees, merit comp employees are on the hook for 8% of salary for pension contribution. Will they have to find that in the 90% percent of their salary that was not taken away this year? - Windy City Mama - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:11 pm: The problem is Quinn is moving as fast as he can to make all management union. PSA’s just got unionized and we are hearing SPSA’s will be unionized as of Sept. That is top management. - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:12 pm: - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 11:35 am: “Cincinnatus, why do you think so many people have joined the union? It’s to prevent arbitrary, politically motivated adjustments to their annual income. They learned well under Blagojevich and now Quinn is giving them another lesson.” If there were no union, and its contracts, might it be possible that some of the furloughs would be spread around the entire workforce so the exempt employees would not suffer the full brunt of the cuts? Deferring a raise and voluntary furloughs is not “sharing the pain” plain and simple. - give me liberty - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:12 pm: I can imagine the response Quinny will get from AFSCME when he brings them back to the table. OK, we’ll defer another 1% COLA for 12 months and agree to more voluntary furlough days and in exchange Quinn will promise again no lay-offs! He drives such a hard bargain! - Nuance - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:13 pm: I am not a State employee and not related to any but this is totally unfair to the employees. It also gives the message to the public that there is still fat in the employment ranks at the state and I do not believe that to be true. 24 days is unreasonable and any sane taxpayer should object. - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:14 pm: Cincinnatus, there is a union. It came about because of stuff just like this today, and worse. Its collective bargaining rights are sealed in state law. You can’t wish it away. Move along. - Mr. Ethics - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:14 pm: Mom used to say “When the cats away the mice will play.” - Anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:15 pm: Wow! I can’t think of anyone that can take no pay for a month. Oh wait…yeah I do…they’re called HOMELESS. - Spidad60 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:15 pm: What about all of the emergency hires, former Corrections directors and political hacks that have shown up at IDOT in the last 6 months? - Moderate REpub - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:20 pm: I would like to see how many people from Quinn’s staff move to Quinn’s political payroll while they are taking their furloughs. Bet it’s more than a few, to bad we won’t know the answer till after the election. All this for $18 million? Just doesn’t seem worth it. So Merit Comp employees who haven’t had raises - in some cases for 3 to 5 years - get dinged again (Don’t forget they also now make a larger contribution to their retirement so some are making less now then they were in 2003) and union employees will be getting 8% raises in the next year and one day. Union employees make up around 90% or more of the whole state govt work force. Great negotiator this guy is… - VanillaMan - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:21 pm: We saw this coming quite a while ago. The writing has been on the wall before Quinn became governor. If you were a state employee as the budget started tanking a few years ago, you saw that if you didn’t get shelter from the union, you were going to get his when our budget started hitting the fan. That is why you saw huge increases in union membership when Blagojevich entered office in 2003. When Quinn did his raises, he shocked us because that wasn’t expected. Now that he has made this Executive Order, we can all see why he handled it as he did. He should exempt MC employees under $50,000 however. Taking from them at this time will hurt them severely. - Team Sleep - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:22 pm: One More Nail, what a fantastic point. How can Quinn now expect his exempt staff to remain loyal and commit to phone banking, parades, lit drops, door-to-door walks and other campaign activities? - steve schnorf - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:23 pm: This whole area is one that has troubled me for the past several years. Under Edgar and Ryan we took the position that we would not impose on the non-union work force negative actions that unionized employees wouldn’t accept. This is a classic example. I know merit comp employees feel they weren’t treated as well as unionized workers in past administrations, and it is certainly true they didn’t get treated the same. They didn’t get automatic COLAs every years, they got merit comp increases on their anniversary dates instead, and they didn’t get automatic step increases. However, unless my memory fails me generally they otherwise got what the union got, and didn’t have to take hits the unions weren’t willing to take. What the past two administrations have done with merit comp employees is the greatest union organizing drive I’ve ever seen, and plain unfair. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:25 pm: Notice there is no graduating scale for these furlough days. Basically, Quinn added all the non-union employees making 25-45k (secretaries, mail room, Rich’s friend, etc) have to take more unpaid furlough days so that OMB bigwigs already making 80 or 90k plus can get raises. I hope the governor’s budget office is proud. I didn’t see anything about rescinding those specific raises of 18 and 20 percent. - ridiculous - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:28 pm: Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! Some upper management gets 20%+ raises, most at least 10%+ (yes the ones mentioned in the paper), many lower guys on the totem pole don’t get a raise for years (yes, plural…yearS), and now these low men on the totem pole have to take more furloughs to make up for their bosses raises!? Those bosses raises will cover their 24 furlough cutback, but those low men on the totem pole just have to suck it up? Oh, and don’t forget the current surge in hiring in the Gov’s office too…most overpaid too. Something’s wrong with this picture…… - Give Me A Break - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:29 pm: Schnorf is correct. They have for all purposes created two separate and unequal working classes. We now have the union workers who laugh their way to the bank and rest of us are treated like indentured servants who should be lucky to have a job. Despite what you may hear, some of us SPSAs really do have years of experience and education in our fields and do show up and work. And for a lot of us, that means 60 hours a week due to staffing levels being so low. - 2+2+2 = 1+1+4 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:29 pm: One particular union contract entails a 17% pay raise over its less than 4 year term. I know someone will come back and say that as part of a recent “concession” agreement, instead of receiving 2% pay raises on 7/1/10, 1/1/11 and 7/1/11, the union employees are receiving 1% raises on 7/1/10 and 1/1/10 and a 4% raise on 7/1/11. OK, I’m not a mathematician, but how is that a concession? It simply places the elephant in the room in the next fiscal year. It’s still a 6% raise over one year, very comparable to the size of many of the raises for merit comp employees that landed the Gov in hot water and brought on today’s debacle. And those raises were for 43 employees. The union agreement covers THOUSANDS! Will someone please write a story about this? It is totally insane. Instead of anyone doing anything about it, the best solution that is come up with is to require merit comp employees to take 24 furlough days? And then merit comp employees complain that there’s no shared sacrifice and it appears that the best solution suggested is for merit comp employees to go into the union as well? How is this a solution to a $13 billion budget hole? Is anyone thinking about efficient/effective management or long term planning in this state? - 13 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:34 pm: I’m a merit comp employee home on a furlough day and just read this. I am currently filling five different positions because we can’t hire. I don’t have time now to do all I need to do and now I have to take a forced month off this year??? This is outrageous Governor!!!! (And no I am not a political appointee. I worked my way up through the ranks.) How can I do what the State hired me to do when I’m forced to sit at home??? - One of the 35 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:36 pm: “The time off from work required here, and resulting reduction in compensation, is not considered a change in salary and shall not impact pension or other benefits provided to those employees.” The only problem with this statement is that it fails to recognize that this change will reduce an employee’s FRE and therefore result in a lower pension. It will impact pensions. - Screwed again - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:36 pm: The ONLY positive to this is that it doesn’t affect our pensions. Becasue HB 4644 was signed I called SERS about buying back my furlough days from last fiscal year. I was told it would be my share, plus the State’s share plus annually compounded interest going back to WHEN I STARTED FOR THE STATE, not from the date of the furloughs. That would be 20+ years of interest. - belmont cragin kid - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:40 pm: This amounts to one day every other week. I know it’s hard, we’re already doing it in Chicago. Sorry, that’s what happens when budgets don’t balance. It could be worst, California state employees are all back at minimum wage. I’m more afraid of facing 4 day weeks. There have been rumors of that coming for a while now. 24 days is better than 52. - NeveroddoreveN - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:42 pm: So let’s say you work in the governors office and just got a nice pay increase. Say a 15% bump. Now with the mandatory furloughs you will lose 9.2% of that increase leaving you with a 5.8% total increase. Plus you now get 24 extra days off of work and you will have made more money than you did in 2009. Maybe ones of quinns staffers should have mentioned this to him before he announced the decision. But then again, why would they? - Can't belive it - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:43 pm: Thank you, Steve Schnorf! Please come back. Merit Comp workers take a month unpaid to save a few million while the union workers rack up hundreds of million on overtime and travel costs continue to rise. - A.B. - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:45 pm: How fast do you think that Nuckles buys a one way ticket back north of the Cheddar Curtain after this one? I actually feel bad for the guy. - One more nail - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:46 pm: So the “you can buy the time back” and it dosen’t effect your pensions is a lie? Dave Vaught has always had trouble with the truth. - whatever - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:52 pm: Management by headline. Next headline please…. - Louis Howe - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 12:58 pm: How stupid can it get? First, Gov. Quinn places inexperienced Lt. Gov employees into staff positions they are incapable managing, then gives them 20% plus raises, now he asks what’s left of his mid-level managers to take a month’s pay cut while he’s continues to honor an unaffordable AFSCME union contract. He’s nuts!!! - Pat Robertson - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:02 pm: Will the last merit comp employee out the door please turn off the lights? Thanks! Gov. Pat - Concerned Observer - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:03 pm: Rich, I heartily suggest you steal whatever(@12:52)’s line for all future ‘prounouncements’. Management By Headline. Perfect. - Union guy now - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:05 pm: I have to say I feel bad for the Merit Comp folks, this is unfair that they have to take it in the shorts like this, yet again. I remember under Ryan when we were merit comp they made us take furlough days and still come in to the office to work for free. I filed for union the next day. Politically tone-deaf, fiscally meaningless in contrast to the size of the debt. and all because these guys don’t have the (redacted) to ask the people for the tax money to pay for the services and programs, out of fear of losing an election to a guy that promises everybody gets what they want but doesn’t have to pay for it. Feeding the anti-incumbency mood like it’s a Bessemer furnace with the O2 cracked to full-open. What melts out will be Quinn and the current legislators, possibly even Madigan’s precious majority. - Objective Dem - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:06 pm: I have a number of comments. Building on Moderate Repub’s comment, I could see an expectation that merit comp exempt employees will work on the campaign on their days off. However, I doubt if many will be paid. And I’m sure they will be bitter. Second, Steve Schnorf raises a good point about not treating merit comp worse than union employees. But it is worth talking about the impact. If the admin does not treat merit comp staff right, you will have a difficult time promoting quality employees from within. Why should they take on the headaches of a management job if they are going to be treated poorly. Likewise, the best and brightest won’t take a government job or stick around. The third issue is that all sources of funds are not the same. There are a large number of grant funded staff. If they don’t get paid, the state doesn’t necessarily save the money. At best it will be reallocated, at worst it will be returned to the feds. A fourth issue is all salaries are not the same. While most employees are paid a fair salary, there are some who are overpaid. Gov. Quinn should be pursuing reducing these salaries or at least making them do the appropriate level of work for their salary. Its not easy but it can be done. Fifth, that $18m in savings sounds good but there are real risks that it will cost a lot more than it will save. If managers are not around or rushed due to limited time, there is greater potential for errors and lost opportunities. It doesn’t take many missed deadlines for grant applications for the state to lose a lot more than $18m. Or how about one big liability suit because some state facility was not properly staffed and some incident occurred. What if a child is killed in a foster home because the manager isn’t able to review the case in time. State employees aren’t a bunch of paper pushers - they make critical decisions impacting the public safety on a daily basis. (By the way remember that early release program - how much did that save and how many people were hurt by the release of felons?) The timing of this is really bad and clumsy. It clearly looks like Quinn was in trouble for giving insiders raises so now he is going to punish the merit comp. How much loyalty does this build? If I was a merit comp state employee I would be looking for a new job. As a voter, it tells me that Quinn is interested in his own political fortunes and not serious about good government. Finally, 10% cut is a real hardship. I know state employees who are already struggling to pay bills. They don’t make that much to begin with and this will be devastating. - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:08 pm: CO, that’s basically a variation on “Governing by press release” that came to prominence under RRB rule of error. - Pioneer P. - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:08 pm: How soon until Quinn does his patented backtrack two-step? - steve schnorf - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:12 pm: Louis, he has no choice but to honor the contract. It is the same situation that Gov Ryan was in in 2002. If the union won’t accept pay freezes, furlough days, renegotiate COLAs, etc (and they don’t have to), the only way the Governor can reduce what he is paying those employees is by laying them off. I don’t advocate that (many agencies are very shorthanded now, too shorthanded), but I absolutely, in the face of a multi-billion dollar problem, would not screw non-unionized employees to save $18m. I would lay off across the board or something else, in order to share the pain more broadly.. This solution fails the test of simple fairness. - alas... - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:14 pm: Alas, Harold you were right on the mark. Those non-union folks not in the Quinn circle get to pay for circle raises - and deal with their dithering and ineptitude as well. The furlough days are not so bad if salary level can take it - at least it gets one away from the dopey doings briefly. Would not predict much working at home though. As for those with lesser salaries - this is repellent. Progressive Democrats my ***. - give me liberty - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:15 pm: As bad as Quinn is, I’m afraid Brady won’t be any better, and I’m a life-long Republican. This state is in such a mess, we really do need wise leadership at the top, instead we have the clowns in office now and the other clowns running for office in November. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The sad part is the state workers who do work hard are made scapegoats for the failures of current and past governors and legislators. Those workers deserve better. - anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:21 pm: I love all the people mad at Quinn and saying they aren’t going to vote for him in November. I’m sure the first thing Brady would do in office is remove the furloughs and increase govt spending. What do you want? All I’ve heard on here is about how Quinn has done a bad job with managing the budget and the huge deficit. Cutting things are hard, cutting salary is hardest. The money doesn’t exist and it isn’t going to magically appear. - stella - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:26 pm: Anon, I would think you’re from the Quinn campaign but I don’t give them enough credit to be monitoring here. - Objective Dem - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:28 pm: Anon, I would start by rescinding the pay raises to the Gov’s staff and firing the person who advocated it. Then I would tell all departments to determine which employees are overpaid and either increase their work or reduce their salary. I would spend time developing real cuts that make sense rather than pulling simple solutions that don’t work out of the air. And I would look at ways to raise revenue. Illinois is not a high tax state, despite what many people believe. I would be pushing with all my might to get the feds to bail out state and local governments across the country. During the depression the feds stepped up BECAUSE leaders like the Mayor of Detroit pushed them. - anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:30 pm: How about closing the Sec of State Driver’s facilities that only serve a couple of people a week? There’s so many BETTER ways to run this business called the State of Illinois. This is NOT fair and the result will filter down to his campaign workers. Or those that were helping up until today. - George - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:30 pm: Translation: The furloughs won’t hurt the pensions of Quinn’s staffers who just got those big pay raises. I would venture to say there probably aren’t any of his staffers who are or will ever be vested in the pension system. - Renfield - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:31 pm: Yes, Anon. The money doesn’t exist so that is why he gave the salary increases to his staff. You must work for him because your logic is screwed up! - dupage dan - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:33 pm: As a state employee in a union I am appalled at PQs action here. Our very small agency is relying on some non-union employees to perform some vital functions since several line positions have been left unfilled. However, I wonder how much the general public will grasp of the perfidy of our accidental governor in this matter. My intention here is not to insult the electorate, rather I wonder if folk not immersed in state gov’t like many who post here would understand the variation on bait and switch that PQ has pulled? - Louis Howe - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:34 pm: Steve, the reason we have courts is to settle contract disputes, and Quinn never pursued in good faith an appeal AFSCME’s shopped county judge decision. That’s inexcusable. - Ghost - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:35 pm: Brady for Gov! - dave - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:36 pm: Brady for Gov! Because if these cuts are bad, just wait and see what Brady can cut! - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:39 pm: anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:21 pm: I love all the people mad at Quinn and saying they aren’t going to vote for him in November. I’m sure the first thing Brady would do in office is remove the furloughs and increase govt spending. What do you want? Look to New Jersey where over 5000 jobs have been eliminated from the state payroll. Union contracts must be honored, which gets me back to the point Rich says I should move on from. There’s a life lesson here, do we want these contracts lying around that handcuff the governor from cutting workers to align the budget with the available revenues? This same argument holds at the federal, and municipal level. There should be no public sector unions, and prevailing wage contracting should be prohibited from government contracting. - anon - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:41 pm: What a jerk! He decides to hurt those people who are not lucky enough to have a union to protect them in order to deflect attention from his mistake rather than just rescind the pay raises. What a jerk! Spineless, dishonest and childish. - Rambler - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:42 pm: The difference between the treatment of union and non-union workers is striking. I’d say anon is pretty much on track though. If someone making $45K can’t afford the furlough days, how can a minimum-wage checkout lady afford a tax hike? There may be less to this than meets the eye. The election is 3 1/2 months away. After that, Quinn can do what he wants, and during his time in office he’s shown his lack of credibility with regard to cutting the budget. - Quiet Sage - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:43 pm: Quinn jumped the shark with this one. - nick - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:46 pm: and the union employees are racking up overtime cause they are understaffed. - Huh? - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:55 pm: This is so stupid that only an intellectual could have thought of it. - whatever - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 1:55 pm: Gov office employees are exempt from the cms personnel code. They can hire and fire at will. They do not need to submit a cms 100. They have made up titles. They set their own rules with regards to vacation, comp and overtime. They follow the code only when they want to. To them they are more like guidelines…sevvy? - Give Me A Break - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:03 pm: Whatever: You simply have no clue as to what you are talking about. - Joe - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:06 pm: Cincinnatus- What’s the difference for you between public and private sector unions? I.e. managers in the private sector can just as easily enter into a union contract that may hamper their finances at some point in the future. Why outlaw unions? Hire/elect better managers. - cassandra - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:07 pm: So Quinn’s lucky staffers will have to take the 24 furlough days but the pain for them will be mitigated by the raises fortuitously ordered a few days ago? The timing seems a bit clunky. On the other hand, is there anything to prevent other exempt staffers from getting raises to mitigate the pain as the year goes on? After all, this isn’t really about the $18 million. It’s about the gubernatorial campaign. Our Pat can add 24 furlough days to the rather short list of answers he trots out when asked what have you actually cut. As to the union employees, contracts don’t last forever. The AFSCME contract expires under two years from now. We don’t have to give away the store the way Blago did the last two times (best contract in the country per Blago and the union last time) but if our Pat gets in, we probably will. - Bman - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:12 pm: Wow, This really hurts. the fault doesn’t lie with just the governor, all the elected politicians are responsible. Of the people you have voted for and were elected, do they really do a good job? if they were doing a good job we would have heard more politicians take an active stand and not just blame someone else or the other party. maybe we should use our vote to show “no confidence”. Let someone else work to fix the problems because the current yahoos are only making things worse. - rudy - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:16 pm: Merit comp employees: Quinn is managing with the budget he was given. You’ll have to do the same. Surely, you would manage it differently, so as to protect your self interest. But if you don’t like furlough days, call your legislator and let her know that the budget she winked at is taking bread off your table. Or you could come here to cry–there is always a sympathetic audience of on-the-job state workers here, blogging. - Sally - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:17 pm: Couple of comments: 1. The mandatory furlough program for merit compensaiton employees in FY 10 saved a little under $6 million. That included Public Service Administrators for the first half of the year, who were then unionized. A 12 day furlough program for the remaining 2300 merit compensation employees is going to save about $4.5 million; doubling that tp 24 gets you to $9 million. Media needs to follow up with GOMB and ask about their fuzzy math where they came up with $18 million (likely they are including the savings from the voluntary furlough program in that). 2. Vaught saying this doesn’t reduce an employee’s pension benefits does not make it so. Pension is figured on basis of highest salary avergae for 4 years out of last 10 years. A reduction in pay by 10% = a pension reduction for those near retirement and Vaught has no magic wand to make it otherwise. 3. So far the only media report is on the raises to the Governor’s Office and Vaught’s office. PQ responds that he has cut overall budget by 35%. What about all the employees of Governor’s Office who are on CMS, DOR, DCFS, IDOR payroll. What about all of the pay raises that have been handed out to political hacks within the agencies? 4. Don’t you find it just a little humorous that Vaught, the guy who got a 20% raise and gave raises to all his staff, is the one signing the Administrative Order giving a 10% paycut to all non-union employees? It gets a little more hard to swallow when you see that all the people who got raises in agencies are his buddies (Rich-take a look at all the increases to CMS Property Management folks). - Chad - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:17 pm: As unfortunate as all of this is, I have believed for some time that the GA will not move to resolve the budget/finance situation until severe pain is inflicted on a broad sweep of Illinois citizens. University students, state workers, retirees, vendors, medical providers, etc. What has shocked me is the tolerance for pain shown so far. We seem to have a population that tolerates ever-increasing incompetence and corruption as a lubricant that keeps state government “functioning”. I do not think this latest move increases the pain enough — the typical private sector employee will probably applaud. Too bad the pain was not spread across the union employment base, as perhaps that would have done enough to force GA action. - sal-says - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:20 pm: Just guessing, but IL would probably be better off if Quinn; his staff & all included in the ‘legislature’ took about 240 furlough days. That’d give them about 10 work days in the year to do some real work for the taxpayers. - chicago 7 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:20 pm: Quinn and Vaught are heartless on this. Unless you are one of the Blago-Quinn hacks who are making real good salaries, this is really going to hurt - especially in Chicagoland, where state employees are really getting squeezed by the cost of housing. Unless you’re a Blago-Quinn hack, like the so-called managers at IDOT, your salary is already far less than your counterparts who work for the feds, or a city, or a county, or any other government operation. So, Quinn and Vaught, how do you expect these workers to absorb a pay-cut of 5 weeks? I just overheard management at IDOT yucking it up as they discussed how they will implement Vaught’s order. But you see, they’re making pretty good money. Like all of the ’smart young men and women’ at GOMB and the governor’s office, they are completely out of touch with the real people who work for this government. Do yu think they’re gooing to rescind the policy that prohibits state employees from taking on part time work? Of course they won’t. They’re making more than enough money, and the thought that others are not can’t fit into their petty little heads. How about a general work slowdown? How about a day or two where phones somehow don’t quite get answered, and reports to the feds somehow don’t get filed in time? - EBCDIC - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:22 pm: Sure, he can say he cut his office budget! He is paying his staff out of the agencies budgets. If he wants to save money, make his staff work out of the Springfield offices. We currently support two offices plus staff and equipment for his staff and the agencies staffs to work out of Chicago and Springfield. Plus we pay out over 58 million a year for their travel to Springfield where they only appear for three days, being given two days for travel time. Also, we give the General Assembly $132.00 a day in per diem to show up for their jobs. They should accept either nothing or take the State rate of $28.00 per day. This would save an additional 8 million a year. - curiouser - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:30 pm: I work in the private sector. We have been taking 2 days off a month for over a year. No raise for the last 2 years. Groceries, gas, utilities keep going up. My income doesn’t. I don’t have a pension, though I’ve been at my job for 35 years. I guess everyone has to tighten their belts. - steve schnorf - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:35 pm: Cincinnatus, your proposed solution is theoretical. Solutions that aren’t doable aren’t solutions at all, they are just mental masturbation: feels good, doesn’t really accomplish much. We are not a right to work state. Public employees have had the right to organize and bargain collectively for more than 35 years, and that right was statutorily enacted under an R governor. The democratically controlled GA isn’t going to pass right to work legislation, and it isn’t going to vote to repeal the right of public employees to organize. Several of the Rs in the GA couldn’t vote for it. Whether you (or I) wish these things were different, they aren’t and they aren’t going to be in the period ahead that we have to deal with this budget problem. One of my biggest complaints about what gets talked about on here is how too many people ignore realities like these as they wax philosophical about how to solve our budget problems. - steve schnorf - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:40 pm: Blaming Vaught for this is like blaming your mirror for how bleary-eyed you are the morning after. He’s just working with what the political process has given him, and that is jack s___. - GetOverIt - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:45 pm: Quinn did not create this mess! He is, however, being asked to manage while the legislature takes a vacation! Suffice it to say, he does not exemplify the gold standard of crisis management - not even close! We should not feel pity for our “leaders.” Brady did not create this mess! Then again, has he not been part of the legislature for the past 20 years???!!! What has he done in that time to curb what is now a gross injustice? The people of the State of Illinois have now become political pawns by the legislators we have elected. This is not about corruption. It is all about what we have failed to do. A test case and reality born of apathy. In the end, it’s on us. - Steamer - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:46 pm: Quinn has lost my vote !! Shoving around the 3 or 4% of state employees that can’t do anything about it. I see a permanent furlough in Mr. Q’s future !! - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:50 pm: - Joe - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:06 pm: “Cincinnatus- What’s the difference for you between public and private sector unions? I.e. managers in the private sector can just as easily enter into a union contract that may hamper their finances at some point in the future. Why outlaw unions? Hire/elect better managers.” Unions in the private sector do not provide “perks” for their employers in a manner that unions do (donations, volunteer election workers, etc). This conflict of interest alone is enough in my book to disallow public sector unions. Money in the private sector comes from owners, shareholders and profits. Public sector money comes from the taxpayers, and legislators are never held responsible for their spending our children’s futures like a private manager’s feet are held to the fire. Private companies go out of business, the government never does. Private companies are exactly that, private. What they do affects them and them alone. The public sector works for the public. Strikes and pay packages come from the taxpayers pockets, many layers removed from the source of that money. If a private contractor wishes to run an open shop, he can. If he wants to hire “scabs” he can. The government workforce is highly unionized and will always remain so, see above. If a private company went to its unionized workforce, they would have more success negotiating with them when times are tough. The union knows that jobs will be permanently lost. Government workers know that the government will just borrow, tax and spend more. That’s the history. Prevailing wage rules raise costs to taxpayers because instead of bidding a job out to the lowest qualified bidder, the competition is rigged because the contractors are forced to use union wages, whether they use unionized employees or not, or else they are not allowed to bid. Prevailing wage also acts as a driver to government worker costs. - GetOverIt - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:55 pm: @Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:50 pm “Private companies are exactly that, private. What they do affects them and them alone.” You must have missed the whole financial meltdown?! Yep, the bank failures didn’t affect us one bit! - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:56 pm: Don’t forget the Gulf. lol - GetOverIt - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 2:57 pm: Thanks Rich! How could I forget that little ol’ leak. - anon again - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:01 pm: Does anyone have accurate info on this overtime to make up for furlough time? I also heard a merit comp employee say they were getting allowed to work overtime to make up for the furlough days if so Quinn continues to shoot his foot sooner or later the truth will come out - cassandra - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:11 pm: Isn’t overtime in a separate budget line. So in order to see if there was really a drop in pay for merit comp employees, you’d have to look at the completed fiscal year, the furlough days taken and the total amount of overtime that particular employee earned over the year. Add in raises-I don’t believe there is a freeze. They could end up making more money in the end. Isn’t overtime time and one half. As I said, this isn’t about the budget. It’s about Pat Quinn’s gubernatorial campaign. He’ll be able to talk about 24 furlough days and most voters won’t have the time or energy to go behind the headlines, so to speak. - State Mope - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:14 pm: The furlough increase to 24 days is insigificant on the state’s budget but devastating on the relatively small number of merit compensation families. If EVERYONE in state government were required to furlough 24 days, it would be easier to swallow. I hope the voters see this as what it really is: a gutless Friday populist tactic by Quinn to hide his earlier staff pay raise blunder. - RJW - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:14 pm: As I sit here off today on a FURLOUGH DAY I can tell you that doubling my furlough days will just about drive me off of the cliff financially. Nobody is going to convice me that this jackass of a Governor did not do this in response to the media backlash against his raises to his staff. Now I’m being punished for it. I have already been looking for other jobs outside of this disaster of a state and I will work day and night until I’m out. I’m done putting any effort into my job anymore. They want to treat me like crap continuously then they can go $#%^$ themselves!!!!! - Tangerine - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:15 pm: MC employees getting paid for overtime? HA. That’s hilarious. I’m also so very glad that I read about doubling my required furloughs on CFB before the Governor/CMS saw fit to let us know. Stay classy, Pat. - Name Withheld - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:16 pm: “There should be no public sector unions, and prevailing wage contracting should be prohibited from government contracting.” What is the difference between a vendor like IBM negotiating a contract for services, and a union? I see absolutely nothing different apart from one’s a corporation and the other isn’t. Representatives of both groups sat down and negotiated the contract. You don’t get to violate the contract just because you don’t like one group. If the state didn’t want to agree to some provisions in a contract, they could either negotiate those points or find another vendor. If you have problems paying the bill that results from the contract - you don’t demonize the other party. You sit down again and negotiate a payment plan or other terms that are acceptable to both. So all this talk about it being the union’s fault is crap as far as I’m concerned. I know of no group more vilified than state workers, as if they are all a bunch of greedy, lazy, pigs drinking from the public trough. You look at all of the wasteful spending in government, and none of it occurs from the union. It occurs at the top and middle because someone has an agenda and a bucket full of money. As a union member, the only thing keeping me here is job security - because the private sector equivalent of my position pays about 12% more in Illinois (according to the Center for State and Local Government Excellence - http://www.slge.org/), even when factoring in pensions and other benefits. I can’t take a basic video training class without some middle-manager’s approval. Meanwhile the higher-ups get to decide to spend over $200,000 to have some outside contractors come in for two months to do something we could have done in-house if they had just come to us ahead of time. So please Cinncinnatus - keep right on blaming the union. But don’t forget to include every other entity that has a contract of service-for-payment with the State of Illinois. - RJW - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:17 pm: @Cassandra: You are a complete and utter idiot. MC employees DO NOT GET overtime. This is a 10% cut to my salary. Maybe if you grew a brain and understood a subject before you talked about it you wouldn’t look so stupid. - 13 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:17 pm: @RJW Amen. - D.P. Gumby - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:17 pm: This really bites the big one…and it shows what big ones Brady has to have the audacity to damn it as if he gives a twit about the state employees who he will fire in his quest for smaller government and then cut their minimum wage desperation jobs at Hardees! Rather like Dracula critiquing the blood bank for its collection process. Regardless, this is just another stupidity in Quinn’s “What is he thinking” governance. Dillard must be turning green w/ jealously at how easily he could be closing in on the governorship right now! - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:18 pm: @GetOverIt The bank failure was a result of Fannie and Freddie loans that were remarketed with complex investment vehicles. When the housing bubble burst, credit was locked. TARP alleviated this, and of the initial TARP funds Bush handed out that were given to financial institutions, all have been paid back and the taxpayer made a profit. Credit markets unlocked and money flowed. It is when Obama extended TARP to include insurance companies and auto companies that things went south again. We’ll never see that money again. We do have a rather decent bankruptcy code in the US, maybe we should have allowed it to work once the credit lock was broken. @Rich Miller, BP should pay every single dime in damages. I would have liked to see the case(s) handled by the courts, and I am a little suspicious about the way the $20B suddenly appeared after pressure from the WH, but I guess that was not a bad use of the government since it shortened the time it takes to get money to the affected people, and it went beyond the cap of $75M established by law. One good change in the laws would be to remove the damage caps so that drilling in the Gulf is covered by private insurance, where risk is measured and price built into the cost of drilling. Government can help here. Do you really want to open up a discussion about the government’s response to the spill. Here’s what I would have done if the people were stupid enough to elect me: The capping of the well would have been BP’s responsibility since only they could provide expertise. I would have formed a panel of experts to explore capping options, headed by my guy with BP and other industry experts. Obama’s task force is studying how to stop it from happening again. Good thing to do, but let’s fix things first, eh? The collection of oil would have been immediately the responsibility of the Coast Guard with BP picking up the tab. Accept the 20 nations’ help offered in the first 2 weeks. Waive Jones Act. Employed shrimpers etc, which Obama did, to handle near shore /beaches work. Built the damn berms instead of withholding approval (which is still pending). What’s worse, temporarily slowing water flow to the marshes, or having those marshes covered with oil. I don’t think Obama considered these items in anything approaching a timely fashion. That’s government at work, instead of leaders taking control of a situation. - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:18 pm: cassandra, I think it’s time for you to take a break. - RJW - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:20 pm: Sorry Rich. I’m trying to take deep breaths . . . - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:26 pm: Cinci - If you think the whole financial mess was solely a result of Fannie and Freddie loans, you are living in a pretty hilarious fantasy world. - Are Ya Kiddin' Me? - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:27 pm: In reference to whether State Employee Unions would or would not accept certain collective bargaining changes (furlough days),the Gov could use the emergency budget powers the GA gave him to rescind the union contracts. I think all state contracts have a subject to appropriations clause in them, if the Union contracts have such a clause and the Gov has the lump sum authority, why doesn’t he not appropriate and void the contracts? That would be to see. - Secret Square - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:32 pm: No matter who wins in November, we’re screwed, and we’d still be screwed even if we had the best and wisest and most compassionate possible candidates on the top of each party ticket. Because no matter what ANYONE does to solve our fiscal problems, said problems have gotten so out of control that there is no way to solve them without hurting lots of real people with real jobs. (Notice I didn’t define “real jobs” as meaning only private sector jobs.) The only question is how many will suffer, in what way, and for how long, and whether or not it will make enough difference in the future to have been worth it. - GetOverIt - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:33 pm: @Cincinnatus: Let’s not go blame the meltdown and Fannie and Freddie. Fannie and Freddie are not to take blame for the commercial loan fiasco, i.e. loans to small/big business a/k/a Private Enterprise. However, I will agree that Fannie and Freddie were “part” of it, but also look to Wall Street, Credit Industry, etc. As for the Gulf, you write, “The capping of the well would have been BP’s responsibility since only they could provide expertise.” The capping of the well has always been BP’s responsibility. The WH has always said that it lacked the expertise to address the problem - the industry agreed. The WH was moving at the industry’s pace when guess what? Criticism began to mount because the WH wasn’t doing enough, when they were doing exactly what you are saying you would have done. As for timeliness…c’mon…we can always fix a problem faster, but we must first appreciate what the problem “is”! When was the last time we have experienced a leak such as the one in the Gulf? Oh, right…never! - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:34 pm: @Name Witheld said, “You don’t get to violate the contract just because you don’t like one group.” Precisely. I am a firm believer in contracts (even though some liberals claim it too, they fully supported the Chrysler and GM bailouts where bond holders (that’s a form of a contract) got nothing while unions got control or the automakers, this debate is for another day, though). That’s why I am so anti-union in the public sector. If the government was non-union, Quinn could just mandate everyone to take a week off, or whatever. And he wouldn’t be forced to give any raises next year, or the year after, or whatever until the budget is under control. It’s the UNION CONTRACT not the UNION WORKERS that is the problem. I celebrate the public sector union workers for their hard work. But their contract inhibits the flexibility of the governor to react to drastic problems like our current financial problems. And as at-will employees, firings of incompetents could take place. Taxpayers would be much happier with their government, and more supportive of them instead of this adversarial relationship between the taxpayers of the unionize workers. But the conflict of interest issue stops any change. This cycle must be broken. - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:35 pm: - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:26 pm: “Cinci - If you think the whole financial mess was solely a result of Fannie and Freddie loans, you are living in a pretty hilarious fantasy world.” What was the cause in your fantasy world? - Bill - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:38 pm: Most of you MCs were going to vote for Brady anyway. Now you’ve got a real reason. - Cincinnatus - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:39 pm: GetOverIt, I actually don’t think the 90 days it took to cap the well that is a mile down was all that bad. Rich used the oil spill as an example of “your government at work.” I, on the other hand, don’t think government helped at all. BP did the job. All the government did was confuse and slow down the response. I don’t think the oil spill was a good example of why we need government. - Reality Is - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:45 pm: All of this berating of union contracts. The contracts benefits the state employees as well as the state. This includes things like mandatory overtime, no strike clause, shift coverage,etc, etc. There are issues other than financial ones covered by the contract as well. - Secret Square - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:46 pm: Cinci, I think what Rich meant was that the oil spill disproved your assertion that what private companies do affects “only them.” Neither government nor private enterprise exists in a vaccuum where what they do affects “only them.” - Truth monger - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:47 pm: On July 1st a memo when out instructing the agencies concerning about 12 furlough days. Today an administrative order was issued about 24 furlough days. The only thing that happened in-between was the gov office pay raise story. This was purely a diversion and even the serial liar Quinn can’t explain this away. But then again he may just be forgetful. - Payraises for unions! - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:57 pm: It was dishonorable to provide 20% pay raises to 35 people in his office. It is despicable that he is going to cut 1500 other peoples pay to try and cover the 20% pay raises. It is cowardly that he won’t take on the union pay increases. I have come to despise the elected “public servant”, who seems to be nothing more than self-aggrandizing egomaniacs. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for participating it what has passed as government for the people, by the people for the last 20 years. (Except Steve Snorff - who seems quite honorable) - wordslinger - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 3:59 pm: Just so long as DuPage Dan and VMan are available 24/7. God know the state couldn’t function without those two hard workers drawing a paycheck. - CousinEddie - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:02 pm: Did anyone else get their Jelly-of-the-Month club membership from the Governor’s office??? - RJW - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:03 pm: @CousinEddie: I got mine but it was petroleum jelly. I guess they wanted it to at least seem gentle before they did it. - just sayin' - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:10 pm: Brady says, “Today’s fourteen hundredths of one percent…” Who talks like that? By trying to fake sounding smart, Brady just says something that’s too confusing to understand, especially as most people only casually listen. Somewhat better, and more normal, would be to say something like “less than 2 tenths of 1 percent.” or even “barely one-tenth of one percent.” And I’m just assuming Brady’s staff crunched the numbers right, which is probably unwise. - chicago 7 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:15 pm: Let’s take a poll: how many state MC employees are going to have to look for a second (part-time) job despite the fact that the policies produced by thoughtful and selfless public servants like Quinn, Vaught, and Hannig FORBID them from taking on an extra job? - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:20 pm: - Rich used the oil spill as an example of “your government at work.” - Are you daft? He was using it as an example of how private companies do affect the public. And as to the cause of the financial crisis, there are many. You said it was all Fannie and Freddie, thats a silly statement. - Loop Lady - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:20 pm: I think all MC’s should call their duly elected representatives and thank them for looking out for themselves rather than the people they represent…Quinn should have hung in tough for his staffers that deserved the raises rather than cave to publc outrage… - CousinEddie - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:20 pm: @RJW It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!! - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:21 pm: So Brady is saying Quinn should have given them more furlough days? That should make those angry state employees want to vote for him instead of Quinn… - RJW - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:24 pm: @Loop Lady: I don’t even know how to respond to your ridiculous comment. Governor Idiot cut the salaries of 2,000 people b/c he got caught giving raises to his staff. And, by the way, his staff will still get their “deserved” raises even with furlough days b/c their raises were more than the furlough day effect (at least most of them). Would you like to comment how he “caved” to public outrage? - Jim - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:31 pm: I currently have 24 furlough days and I think the mayor loves to say “Heh, look at me, I have 24 furlough days, what do you want me to do, we share in the pain” but Police and Fire go untouched so the savings compared to the deficit is strictly symbolic. THe mayor and the governor, a pair of idiots campaiging on the backs of others while, in the city’s case, the vendors get wealthy. - Secret Square - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:32 pm: “If someone making $45K can’t afford the furlough days, how can a minimum-wage checkout lady afford a tax hike?” These aren’t exact numbers but just to give you a rough idea: minimum wage is now $8 an hour, times 40 is $320 per week, times 52 is $16,640 per year, before any taxes. I will assume for the sake of argument that this is her federal Adjusted Gross Income, which is the basis for figuring your state income tax. The current state income tax rate is a flat 3 percent, after a $2,000 personal exemption. So our hypothetical minimum wage earner would pay about $439 a year in state income tax right now. That’s assuming she only claims an exemption for herself (if she has dependents she will pay less.) If the income tax were raised all the way to 5 percent, her total tax goes up to $732 per year. The difference: $293, or slightly less than one week’s pay. Now granted, for someone just scraping by on minimum wage that’s nothing to sneeze at. But if you’re looking strictly at the financial effect on the individual… well, losing a month’s pay to furlough days is way worse than losing a week’s pay to taxes, wouldn’t you think? - Broke MC - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:34 pm: At my location merit comp employees account for less than 1% in numbers and even less in $’s. We have lost out on raises for 7 years along with taking 12 and now 24 furlough days and they do effect our retirement. It would have been nice to get a raise to offset these furlough days like some apparently got. Many of us make much less than the union employees that we are charged with supervising. Due to staffing shortages work is not being completed acuratly or timely and we must take off more days. The people making all these decisions need to get out of the bubbles and visit the real working people. - Brady Fan - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:35 pm: Thanks Patty…one step closer to regaining the Governor’s Mansion. I know you have spent so much time there and all (at least that is what you claimed you would do)…I know Bill and Nancy are going to enjoy living there! At least you will be able to spend more time in Chicago with your friends. - Montrose - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:36 pm: *If the income tax were raised all the way to 5 percent, her total tax goes up to $732 per year. The difference: $293, or slightly less than one week’s pay.* And that is not accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit she would be eligible for, which, if an HB174 type package passed, would go up significantly to offset the tax increase. - Objective Dem - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:41 pm: Brady is correct that this cut is a very small percentage of the overall budget deficit. A suggestion to both candidates is to forget the furlough days. Instead require managers to spend 24 days a year to look hard at their budgets and come-up with proposed cuts and ways to increase revenue. I bet if they had guidance and some time they could come up with some good ideas that will save a lot of real money on long term basis. - Brady Fan - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:43 pm: Just remember when you go to the polls who handed you those 24 furlogh days! - GetOverIt - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:44 pm: Here’s an idea (tongue in cheek)…What if we eliminated all of State government? How much would we save then? (sigh) Likely not enough to plug the budget… - 13 - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:49 pm: @Loop Lady: “Quinn should have hung in tough for his staffers that deserved the raises rather than cave to publc outrage” You’re giving Bill a run for his money. Are you typing away from your state computer again? Back to work LL, back to work. (snark) - Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 16, 10 @ 4:55 pm: GetOverIt, best comment ever. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 19, 10 @ 2:56 pm: ! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.