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AFSCME says layoff notices sent

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* Subscribers already know about some other layoff notices. From AFSCME Council 31…

On Aug. 3, AFSCME received notice from the Rauner Administration of 94 layoffs in state government. The threatened job losses are in the Department of Natural Resources (54 layoffs associated with the Governor’s plan to close the Illinois State Museum sites and the Sparta World Shooting Complex), the Illinois Commerce Commission (24), the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (9) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (7).

The notices all cited a lack of funds as the rationale for the layoffs, which have an effective date of September 30.

“Most of these layoffs stem from Governor Rauner’s rush to shutter the Illinois State Museum sites, destroying a vital resource for learning and the preservation of cultural heritage and putting professional museum curators, librarians and support staff in the unemployment lines,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said.

“Other layoffs would throw out of work men and women involved with nuclear safety, tourism, recycling and overseeing public utilities.

“Instead of holding hostage the public services Illinois residents rely on and eliminating jobs of public service workers who provide them, the Governor should drop his extreme political agenda that would hurt the middle class and work with legislators to pass a budget that prevents these cuts.”

Illinois has the nation’s smallest state employee workforce per capita. DNR was already cut 40% since 2000, DCEO cut 33% and IEMA cut 39%, hampering the ability of these agencies to meet their goals. At the ICC, this layoff could have a significant impact, eliminating 24 staff from an agency that had just 69 employees at the start of 2015, a 35% cut.

…Adding… The ICC would like you to know that they actually have 222 employees, not the 69 that AFSCME claims.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:09 pm

Comments

Layoffs are a governor’s choice.

The reality is the families effected… they really don’t care who is at fault now, when the bills start.

I feel bad for the families. Sad day.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:14 pm
So much for Rauner’s promise that you folks would get paid.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:20 pm
Time to close the Shooting Center…

Comment by Liberty Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:20 pm
Sadly I’m afraid this is the tip of the iceberg. The Governor is a proponent of smaller government and this is a means of accomplishing that. He owns it one way or another.

Comment by Stones Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:23 pm
94 out of 38,000? Are layoffs never allowed to occur in the public sector? If anything, the governor is choosing to minimize the scope of those layoffs.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:24 pm
Anonymous @ 4:24pm =94 out of 38,000? Are layoffs never allowed to occur in the public sector? If anything, the governor is choosing to minimize the scope of those layoffs.=
Layoffs occur in the private sector occur due to lack of demand for the organization’s products & services, are saying that’s the case here?

Comment by Qui Tam Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:27 pm
Anonymous 4:24, I guess you must have skipped the last sentence of the article:

Illinois has the nation’s smallest state employee workforce per capita. DNR was already cut 40% since 2000, DCEO cut 33% and IEMA cut 39%, hampering the ability of these agencies to meet their goals. At the ICC, this layoff could have a significant impact, eliminating 24 staff from an agency that had just 69 employees at the start of 2015, a 35% cut.

Comment by Joe M Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:27 pm
“Are layoffs never allowed to occur in the public sector?”

Umm…yeah, read the article since many agencies are the same headcount they were in 1973 after layoffs occurred. The point is whether or not that’s a good thing compared to the perception of the public. If the goal is to have public places, then they need to be maintained so the public will come back, or have a good experience…geez.

Comment by Captain Illini Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:29 pm
=== If the goal is to have public places, then they need to be maintained so the public will come back, or have a good experience…geez. ===

No worries. Our plutocracy has the money to go elsewhere as these public places disintegrate.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:33 pm
I don’t believe the governor can take the heat for closing down the state museum and leaving that building derelict in the middle of the Capitol complex.

Every other governor has managed to keep it open, some in very hard times.

It would represent a highly visible and daily reminder of personal failure. He won’t do it.

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:36 pm
Is this a way to pressure the union to accept his contract demands? Cite insufficient funds and threaten layoffs unless all state workers accept his demands.

Comment by Jeep Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:41 pm
It’s a layoff notice, not a layoff yet. Will these positions be restored if a budget deal is reached.

Is there some way DNR could become self-funding? It seems as though they always get hit early when there is a budget crunch. In Indiana, I pay for a membership at the local state park.

If the budget crisis is as bad as our political masters claim, some layoffs are to be expected. But there might be other ways of reducing staff costs, such as modest incentives for voluntary retirement, furloughs, and so on. We’ve heard it all before. Makes me wonder if this is another scare tactic.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:42 pm
Qui Tam 4:27:

Layoffs can also occur due to poor management or devastating an organization’s finances over many years. Either of those would be a more plausible cause for this, as well as other possibilities.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:46 pm
The visuals can be so compelling for these folks in a couple of weeks. Museum employees standing outside passing out brochures telling visitors to enjoy the fair, the Governor’s priority over the continuation of the State Museum. Others touting the this prioritization over state parks, emergency response, etc., etc., etc. Even our weak Channel 20 should pick up on this one.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:49 pm
Illinois has the nation’s smallest state employee workforce per capita yet the nation’s most units of local government.

Money is money. What one agency takes, another goes without. I would gladly trade-in one of the many 6-figure administrators at my local community college for 4 social workers.

Comment by nixit71 Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:49 pm
0.2% of Illinois’ state employees.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:50 pm
Interesting on the Sept 30th date. In the case of layoffs bumping (I assume) would be taking place so when the layoffs transpired the lowest seniority employees would be the ones out of luck. However with the latest agreement, which expires on Sept 30th, would the seniority bumping still transpire if no new contract or extension is in place? Makes me wonder if the dates are coincidence or something else..

Comment by Mouthy Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:51 pm
Rauner seems to be indifferent to the pai he causes. Given his corporate background, this should come as no surprise.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:53 pm
Continuing to jab a sharp stick into such a sensitive spot with the majority of Illinois residents who highly value the state museum is not a good PR move by Rauner and Rosenthal. There seems to be some ideological driver behind this most insensitive move, far beyond any touted need to live within the spartan budget handed to the DNR by Rauner.

Comment by vole Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:05 pm
Funny, no one on here seems to care the Shooting Complex is on the list, including the usual suspects who are normally completely critical.

Comment by Southern Illinois Hoopdee Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:08 pm
===Funny, no one on here seems to care ===

Try not to victimize yourself, please.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:13 pm
==with the majority of Illinois residents who highly value the state museum==

Citation? I’d wager the majority of Illinois residents don’t care one way or the other about the State Museum

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:16 pm
Rich, I have no ties to the Complex other than being in the same county, and I’m open to out of the box solutions to keep it up and running without state money.

Comment by Southern Illinois Hoopdee Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:18 pm
OK. I’ll bite. Blago’s pipe dream to spark the southern IL economy by wasting $50 bigguns at Sparta would keep the State Museum open for 10 years.

Comment by vole Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:21 pm
Vole, sad but true.

Comment by Southern Illinois Hoopdee Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:23 pm
I knew something was up today. Saw director of personnel laughing with the ED. Yes laughing alot of things were done before this was “known”. How I wonder did they pick the layoff list. Smh

Comment by sad Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:40 pm
The museum should be placed under the Secretary of State as the State Library is. That is a much better fit.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:46 pm
=== Tina Sfondeles @TinaSfon
Rauner also blames AFSCME layoffs on speaker: “Madigan & the legislators he controls passed an unbalanced budget that was $4 billion short.” ===

Yea, Mickey did it. That’s it blame it on Mickey and the big bad Dems.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 5:56 pm
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 4:46 pm:

“Layoffs can also occur due to poor management or devastating an organization’s finances over many years. Either of those would be a more plausible cause for this, as well as other possibilities.”

Exactly. Still painful, no matter what the reason.

Comment by Liandro Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:02 pm
Rauner isn’t totally to blame. People I worked with for many many years used his ideology for their own gain.They did what they had to do I guess. He gave them rope but didn’t make them use it. Still smh.

Comment by sad Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:07 pm
Governors choose layoffs.

It’s Rauner’s choice.

What an utterly pathetic attempt by that Crew.

I’ve yet to come across a governor so willing to be a victim of a Co-Equal partner.

Rauner isn’t a leader. Sadly, Rauner does things, and looks for an excuse, even if Rauner campaigned on doing it.

At what point, what “thing” will Rauber take the “arrows” he claimed he would take for the bkatebt choices only a governor can make?

A pathetic “leader”

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:09 pm
That’s leadership, laying people off then blaming Madigan and the Democrats. Rauner laid these people off because that’s what he wanted to do, he’s desperate to crank up the pressure in order to get the Dems to agree to his agenda. I don’t think this tactic will work.

Comment by The Dude Abides Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:14 pm
The train wreck is so far in slow motion, but it will pick up speed soon enough.

Comment by DuPage Dave Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:18 pm
“At what point, what “thing” will Rauner take the “arrows” he claimes he would take them for, for the blatent choices only a governor can make?”

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:19 pm
Anon @ 5:16: “…majority of Illinois residents don’t care…about the State Museum.” I have no numbers, but this I do know–the museum is more than a tourist attraction. It’s a place of scientific and other research, a compilation of our history, and a repository of collections that can’t be replaced. It belongs to the people of Illinois. This threat to close it is probably Rauner creatin’ some crisis so he can get more leverage. I really believe he might go through with this. He’s on a mission.

Just today I read a report, which cited numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that many states and municipalities are beginning to hire again. A better economy and personnel lost to retirement were the explanation. Wrong-way Rauner is leading us somewhere else.

Comment by South Central Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:20 pm
1 superstar’s salary = how many of the employees picked for this layoff?

Comment by burbanite Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:23 pm
ICC has 222 employees not 69

Come on ASCME learn how to count
One more thing they are incapable of tell the truth

Comment by Seriously Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:26 pm
come on AFSCME show some stones hit the street! get the burn barrels and wind blocks built for the long haul !!

Comment by railrat Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:33 pm
Liandro 6:02:

Exactly right. Very painful, no matter the cause. Sometimes, layoffs are not a matter of choice but are forced due to fiscal realities. If we had a budget in place these preparatory steps may not have been necessary.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:35 pm
I would agree that a large number of Illinoisans don’t care about the museum, probably a smaller number care about Sparta. In all honesty though, go a couple hours away from Springfield and not too many care about the State Fair. Get very far South of I80 and not many care about much of anything in Chicago (other than sports).
So that same logic can shut down a lot of things.

Comment by mcb Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:37 pm
AFSCME can’t get basic figures right? No wonder our finances don’t add up.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 6:40 pm
I’m quite sure the 69 staff AFSCME was referring to - were the 69 they represent…as I also presume all 24 layoff notices have AFSCME members’ names on them.

Comment by W.S. Wolcott Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 7:26 pm
==layoffs are not a matter of choice but are forced due to fiscal realities.==

Well, yes, all these layoffs ARE a matter of choice. A choice made by a governor who refuses to have a budget or a discussion until his “turnaround agenda” is passed, all or nothing. Or, did you forget he said that? Fiscal reality, my foot.

Comment by South Central Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 7:39 pm
how do these layoffs improve the economy?

Comment by Facts are Stubborn Things Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 7:40 pm
Again with the robotic “Madigan and the legislators he controls sent an unbalanced budget $4 billion short…..”

That didnt stop the governor from signing the K-12 approp. Or for cheering for employees to be paid without an approp.

He chooses to play the “unbalanced budget” card when he wants to deflect the heat from his “leverage” strategy.

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 7:51 pm
sorry to see this happen when at idot they are overstaffed

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 7:58 pm
IDOT overstaffed? I dont see it that way.

Comment by Big Z Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 8:41 pm
I’m surprised about Dept of Conservation. They just hired and trained several Conservation Officer’s, & now they are laying them off. It doesn’t make sense.

Comment by Mama Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 9:03 pm
“Fiscal reality, my foot”. - Do basic economics not apply? Did the state suddenly find a magic money machine that paid our debts?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 9:18 pm
Excellent new nickname South Central - “Wrong Way Rauner”

Comment by Omega Man Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 9:22 pm
If we can lay off people at the shooting complex, why are we not sticking a “for sale” sign on it, and seeing what price it can bring us in the open market?

That’s what Rauner used to do, in his former life as a venture capitalist. Used the google to check this place out, and it seems like the sort of place a former KOA manager would want to operate.

Just sayin’…

Comment by Lynn S, Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 10:16 pm
Good thing we finally got a Republican Governor to fire all those lazy…….Republican employees. That’ll show them.

Comment by Jordan Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 11:34 pm
Didn’t our license plate fees go up a couple bucks to keep DNR sites up and running?

Comment by EJJ Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 12:07 am
==Good thing we finally got a Republican Governor to fire all those lazy…….Republican employees. That’ll show them.==

So true. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that most of them even voted for Rauner.

Comment by CrazyHorse Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 12:46 am
Over the last few months ICC has seen a significant number of new hires at high pay. And now they have to lay off 24?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 7:27 am
This is what happens when the reckless spending by the dems for the past decade hits the fan. C’mon, you can only be foolish, irresponsible and careless with the checkbook for so long.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 8:00 am
No anon, this is what happens when a temporary tax increase is allowed to expire, and one that Rauner wanted to expire, before a full recovery from a recession.

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 8:10 am
This is also what happens when an entire segment of the population is exempt from taxation on their income due to their age alone.

“when a temporary tax increase is allowed to expire… before a full recovery from a recession.”

So when we’re fully recovered, we’re going back to 3%? Fantastic! Where do I sign? Because continuing to raise taxes on the working folks while they’re actively being “recessed” doesn’t sound like a winning formula either.

Comment by nixit71 Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 8:58 am
So you want to tax grandma and grandpa before Bruce pays his fair share?

As for three percent flat tax, that’s why the pensions were raided in the first place. Why would we want to go back to the original structural revenue deficit again?

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:08 am
My concern is when Bruce officially joins grandpa in retirement, we won’t be taxing any of his retirement income either. Rauner made millions more while both he and gramps were working. Gramps still managed to pay something.

I agree. 3% won’t fly. Was just saying more of the same isn’t going to fix anything.

Comment by nixit71 Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:15 am
Sparky, it is 3.75%. Maybe you haven’t noticed.

And go look up what Rauner has paid in taxes. As some staunch dems have posted here, they take issue with many things related to Bruce, but the amount he pays in taxes and his charitable giving are not among them.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:20 am
Raunerbot, err anon, it’s not how much he pays, it’s how much he has left in the Caymans, which I’d venture to say is slightly north of what Grandma and Grandpa have…fair share is the operative phrase here pal. You guys love percentages except when you don’t, huh?

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:26 am
Great news across the board. State employment is not a God-given right, nor is the state museum somehow sacred. Are none of you paying attention?

The ICC is a great example. Bloated payroll resulting from mission-creep and somehow these jobs become absolutely vital to life on this planet. The new leadership at ICC, like other agencies, is just trying to plug huge holes in the sinking ship.

Every one of these paper-pushing jobs represents vital social services that really need to be provided. The priorities on this blog are sad.

Comment by Adam Smith Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:31 am
AS, genererations of Illinoisans have managed to keep the state museum open since 1877. I think there have been a couple of rough patches since then.

Are you simply down on the concept of museums, or are you just an unimaginative quitter who can’t figure out solutions to very small problems?

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:42 am
And once again PS, you have revealed what you are not aware of. The Cayman Islands and the US have an agreement in place that allows sharing of financial information.

Or maybe you think he has stashed silver in coffee cans in the sand.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:48 am
An unimaginative “solution” would be not allowing any of the current offices to be consolidated or closed.

Comment by Willi P Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:37 am
A museum is not an “office.”

If your position is that after 138 years the museum must be closed because the current administration can’t find $4 million out of $32 billion in expected revenues, I’d suggest not a lot of deep thinking is going on.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:47 am
I wouldn’t put it past him, anon. Let me put it this way, Rauner is a plutocrat, no matter how much they pay you to spout their anti-American positions, Americans will come together to send you packing. I see this as a war. Bring it you tea-bagger. See you in the trenches.

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 7:21 pm