* AFSCME sent out this press release Tuesday night…

AFSCME MEMBERS TO PICKET GOV. QUINN SPEECH IN SPRINGFIELD
Governor scheduled to address Digital Government Summit at Crowne Plaza Hotel

Frontline state employees represented by AFSCME Council 31 will demonstrate at 8:15 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 12) outside the Crowne Plaza Springfield (3000 South Dirksen Pkwy.) where Governor Pat Quinn is scheduled to address the Illinois Digital Government Summit.

Union members will form a “Pat Quinn Truth Squad” to picket and leaflet against the governor’s false claims about public employee pensions, his push for nearly 4,000 layoffs and his efforts to weaken workers’ right to collective bargaining.

* But the governor was a no-show, and AFSCME claimed it had scared him off…

The state’s largest employee union said Wednesday that Gov. Pat Quinn canceled a speech after learning rank-and-file workers would be protesting outside the event.

A spokeswoman for the governor, however, said the claim by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was “not true” because the governor had taken the appearance off his schedule two weeks ago.

Wednesday’s disagreement was just the latest wrinkle in the escalating standoff between the union and the Chicago Democrat. The two have locked horns over the governor’s plan to cancel raises, close facilities and lay off thousands of workers.

In August, AFSCME protesters dominated Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair, drowning out a welcoming speech by the governor and surrounding him as he ate a pork chop sandwich.

* It turns out, Quinn’s office was right…

“We were told two weeks ago that he had a conflict and surely wouldn’t be able to speak,” said Jack Mortimer of Government Technology Magazine, which organized the summit. “But our program guide had already gone to print.”

The program guide listed Quinn as delivering opening remarks first thing Wednesday morning as the conference got under way.

However, that’s not where AFSCME learned that Quinn was scheduled to speak. Jeff Bigelow, regional director for AFSCME Council 31, said the union learned of Quinn’s appearance from the web site devoted to the summit. As of Wednesday morning, the site still listed Quinn as giving opening remarks beginning at 8:45 a.m.

“He’s been advertised as showing up there for weeks and weeks,” Bigelow said. “It’s clear to me, from talking to the person who was running the show there, that they knew he was scheduled to give opening remarks and the fact that they called and said they were not doing it at seven (Tuesday night) shows there was a scheduling.”

Or hopeful thinking on his part, Mortimer said.

“We kept him on the web site in hopes that maybe a miracle would happen and his schedule would change, but it didn’t,” Mortimer said. “I didn’t find that for sure until (Tuesday night). I said is there any hope and they said ‘Nope. It’s still the same situation.’”

* Here’s the leaflet that about 50 AFSCME protesters distributed outside the event. Click the pic for a larger pdf image…

* Some photos provided by AFSCME…

       

22 Comments - Cheryl44 - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:08 am: Where are the “Governor Quinn likes Nickelback” signs? - Fed up - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:11 am: Wouldn’t a better headline be state of Illinois foiled by no show Quinn - Fed up - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:13 am: Silly picketers Springfield is south of I 80 what would Quinn be doing there. - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:22 am: Note on one AFSCME talking points: They don’t mention that in order to protect abused children, the governor wants to restore the 600 cuts to DCFS with the money saved closing prisons. All jobs from prison closures will all be maintained so there won’t be a job loss there. They apparently want him to do it by cutting something else. - Mouthy - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:22 am: Gov. Quinn thought that by throwing public employees and retiree’s under the bus he’d come out a big winner. Now he’s getting attacked which will ultimately be his demise as if he needed any self help. AFSCME is doing what it has to do and is doing a good job of it. It’s a “true” shared pain. - walkinfool - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:37 am: Ridiculous to think pickets would “scare off” Quinn from such a speaking event. Happy with them demonstrating, however. - Fed up - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:38 am: Dan, I admit my ignorance here.how is Quinn going to restore 600 DCFS jobs and not layoff any prison staff at closed prisons. Just closing facilities can’t save that much. It will lead to higher costs at other facilities. - the Patriot - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:39 am: Quinn is laughing his head off. He knows AFSCME will back him if he runs again. AFSME created this mess by sticking with democrats and as long as your votes and your $ is in the bag for them, they will continue to abuse you. The only way AFSME can turn the tide is to promise to support the republican in the next election if this does not change and stick to it. Fortunately for Quinn, they won’t. I completely disagree with how Quinn is handling this, but as long as he can count on their votes and their money, why would he do anything different? - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:43 am: Wouldn’t a digital government conference have been a good place to announce/launch a social media, grassroots pension reform initiative? - wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:47 am: Does a digital conference really have to meet at a hotel? Seems counter-intuitive. - Truth be Known - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 10:50 am: AFSCME should list their top members’ salaries and Henry Bayer’s salary and benefits and then do a poll to see if the public really supports their confrontational ways. - Lobo Y Olla - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:02 am: The Gov was in Chicago yesterday….With a ton of politicians. His schedule was probably not a secret. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-offenders-get-chance-to-go-forward-under-program-to-clear-records-20120912,0,4075018.story - Bluefish - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:02 am: AFSCME only seems to be a few thousand members short of the CTU protests in Chicago. - BMAN - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:04 am: Scheduling conflict? How convenient for quinn. - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:09 am: Fed Up, It’s simple. Every single prison employee at a closing prison has been offered a job in an understaffed prison. At least 1/3 of the employees from Tamms will be relocated to prisons within 40 miles of where they are now. The key to saving money is that staffing these positions will reduce the huge overtime costs that currently drain the IDOC budget. And, closing facilities outright allows a huge net savings in operating costs. As the governor’s office always says, he wants to close half-empty prisons. Many southern Illinois prisons are chronically understaffed so we end up paying millions in overtime. There are guards who make 120K or more from overtime. The state is much better off transferring employees from overstaffed prisons, like Tamms, to the ones in crisis. The governor also says he wants to take the net savings from facility closures and apply it to DCFS funding, where I understand that whole programs will be axed, and staff positions will be cut outright. Whether that happens is of course up to the legislature… I learned this from AFSCME and the Gov’s office so correct me if I’m wrong. - Truth Be Known - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:19 am: Illinois media has done a dismal job of reporting facts behind closures and employee salaries. They even buy into rhetoric that AFSCME members are Democrats. They are mostly Republicans. Why aren’t the Republican legislators joining them on the picket lines and at their confrontations? - Anonymice - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 11:53 am: ==AFSCME picket attempt foiled by no-show Quinn == All those years of being an empty suit are starting to pay off . . . - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 12:05 pm: Fed Up, This article actually details the job transfers to other facilities. http://thesouthern.com/news/local/closures-would-spark-flurry-of-transfers/article_6e918732-f4b4-11e1-968c-001a4bcf887a.html - walkinfool - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 1:49 pm: Michelle, Michelle, Michelle - TwoFeetThick - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 1:57 pm: === AFSME created this mess by sticking with democrats === Uh, I’m a Democrat, and I’ve worked on campaigns supporting Democrats. And I can tell you from personal experience that AFSCME often supported our Republican opponents, especially in downstate races. Same with those evil teachers’ unions, especially the IEA. - gallerywalker - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 3:39 pm: @ Truth be Known Why don'’t you go the the US Dept of Labor’s website and find out what Henry Bayer’s salary is and publish it yourself. All the info is there. and it’s not hard to find. By the way, compared to other union leaders, he is underpaid and overworked. Figure out what he makes hourly… He is worth every penny and then some!!! I am just sorry that he is not MORE confrontational!!! - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Sep 13, 12 @ 4:40 pm: It’s interesting you mention Beyer’s salary. I have no idea what it is. But, United Electrical has a policy that no union leader can have a pay higher than the highest paid member. From Wikipedia: Since UE’s founding, its constitution has limited the pay of its officers to “a salary not to exceed the highest weekly wage paid in the industry.” Linked to the pay rates of production workers at GE, the annual salaries of UE’s three national officers are currently $51,984 – a fraction of what other unions pay their officers. The salaries of UE regional officers, staff, and those local officers who work for the union full-time, follow the same principle and are somewhat lower. UE’s policy on salaries is deeply rooted in UE’s philosophy of unionism. UE sees unionism as a movement and unions as independent organizations of workers. When union leaders live in the same income bracket as rank-and-file workers, it helps them to stay in touch with the outlook and needs of workers. In UE’s view, salaries for union officers and staff that are comparable to those of corporate executives tend to undermine a union’s commitment to its fundamental purpose. 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