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* From a letter sent by Senate President John Cullerton to AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch…
Ms. Lynch:
After nearly two years of no state budget, it is state workers who are bearing the brunt of the impasse, a fact not lost on me as we negotiate for a deal to end the gridlock.
To me, the most important part of the plan we are piecing together is the budget for the second half of the current fiscal year.That budget includes $1.81 billion for the state employee group health insurance program. That’s the amount needed to cover the full costs of the program in budget year 2017. These provisions are included in SB 6. Let me be direct to make sure there is no mistake about our plan: The state would fully fund the costs of the state worker health insurance program. That program has been victimized in the past, intentionally underfunded by Governor Quinn to make his budgets look balanced. We would put an end to that in the 2017 budget in the Senate budget plan.
Looking ahead, Illinois Senate Democrats are committed to fully budget for any and all salary, health care and other costs that come with a new AFSCME contract.
You and you members know better than most that our state has teetered on the financial brink of disaster for the past two years. It’s time to restore stability for you, the state workers, and everyone else.
Sincerely,
John J. Cullerton
* Doug Finke wrote about the letter and here’s his take…
Cullerton’s letter was sent as he and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno continue to revise parts of the grand bargain in an attempt to secure enough votes to pass it to the House. Last week, three of the less controversial bills in the package passed with only Democratic votes. A fourth, dealing with pension reform, went down to defeat when only 18 Democrats voted for it. No Republicans voted for the bill.
Cullerton’s letter may be intended to blunt opposition to the pension reform bill by public employee labor unions. AFSCME is a member of We Are One Illinois, a coalition of those unions opposed to the pension changes. AFSCME members would not be affected by changes in the pension bill as it is currently drafted. Cullerton said he excluded AFSCME while its contract issues are unresolved.
At the same time, all of the dozen bills in the package — including both the spending plan and the pension changes — must be approved or none of them can become law.
AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said the union believes the pension bill is unconstitutional. The union did not have comment Monday about Cullerton’s letter.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:54 am
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And Mr. lindall and AFSCME are almost certainly correct.
But is this really about pension reform. I think not. It’s about a fake budget which will, at a minimum, raise the income tax in exchange for fake savings. That’s the real goal. The rest is noise.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:04 am
And that means exactly what? Nothing mentioned about subcontracting without any checks and balances the governor wants. Less costly health insurance means little if ones job is eliminated.
Comment by Steward As Well.... Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:08 am
I am wondering when Cullerton is going to internalize that “pension reform” as he so quaintly puts it, is not constitutional and is not going to happen. If he could internalize that he might start looking for real world solutions.
Comment by wondering Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:12 am
The letter means nothing. “that come with a new AFSCME contract”, tells me. The new AFSCME contract of which he speaks is Rauners last best and final. It’s much easier to pay for Rauners contract. That’s not an AFSCME contract. Rauner walked away from negotiating one. He even walked away from our extremely good negotiating framework offer.
Cullertons letter says we’ll fund the contract that destroys AFSCME.
Sorry I’ll pass.
It won’t matter anyway since Rauner doesn’t want a budget or your senate deal.
There is no stability possible at this point
Don’t promise anything you can’t give.
Since we’re going to shut down anyway why don’t you worry about how many state workers will return to work.
Promises of funding are insulting when you know we will return to a contract that will destroy AFSCME.
Concern troll
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:14 am
AFSCME has no friends left and very little public support outside of their inner circle. All this plus a new Supreme Court justice who will help cripple all unions in a few months. The golden era of these unions are gone.
Comment by Thomas Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:28 am
>Sorry I’ll pass.
Honeybear, my thought when I read Cullerton’s letter is that he was getting the best achievable budgetary outcome state employees were likely to get under Rauner, and that funding the health insurance would be a gigantic help to state employees. It’s just a really bad situation for AFSCME at the moment. Am I way off base do you think?
On that note, I’m still hopeful the Senate can get something passed. That hope is waning as Rauner-funded organizations attack the effort more and more strongly. If there’s no hope for the plan, makes sense to me that AFSCME would oppose it.
Comment by Earnest Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:28 am
Nice they plan to pay $1.8B in FY17.
But we’re about 2/3’s through the year and we owe $3.9B or so for both FY17 and previous years. Seems like they are somewhere between $2.5B - $3B short of what is needed to fully make all the health insurance / claim payments.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:28 am
Previously he mentioned ironing out the contract dispute (impasse) as a requirement of ongoing budget negotiations. What the letter says is something along the lines of “this is all you are getting from the budget talks”. In other words: You are on your own regarding the contract.
Comment by Hambone Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:32 am
Serious question. Was this letter meant for Cullerton to feel better or the Union? I don’t see this ending good for AFSCME.
Comment by Echo The Bunnyman Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:34 am
They can pass the Rauner / Cullerton pension reform bill but they better count the savings as $0 in FY17 & FY18. Until the IL SC weighs in, those savings are strictly imaginary.
I haven’t taken the time to read the language tieing all the bills together. Hopefully, it only says the bills must all be passed and signed, with nothing about the future legality of said bills (since bills are assumed legal / constitutional if passed by the GA).
If that is the case, then the phony savings pension bill won’t derail the rest of the package.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:35 am
“..our state has teetered on the financial brink of disaster for the past two years.”
Ignore that man who’s been behind the curtain for 39 yrs
Comment by It's All About Me Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:41 am
Suppose the grand bargain passes. Then the pension bill is found unconstitutional. What happens then? Does the whole house of cards collapse and we are back at square one?
Comment by anonymouse Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:41 am
When do we get some good lawyers in the GA?
As RNUG has pointed out, without a “keep what you have” option the Cullerton Person Proposal is coercive and thus unconstitutional.
How can it be constitutional to tie bills together? The single subject clause must mean something.
I feel like I am being played.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:47 am
The ” Grand Bargain ” is dead.
In Rauners mind nothing changes unless he gets his TA.
Comment by MOON Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:59 am
Earnest, sorry I’m being a Debbie downer today. Cullerton is giving up on forcing the governor back to the table. Cullerton is not doing all he can to help us. That would be to force Rauner back to the table or to arbitration. This letter says to me “sorry kid, themselves the breaks”
My response is to point out that the workforce was the smallest per capita when Rauner started. It’s now down 30% since then
NOW he says he’ll fully fund the contract that will kill our union but Most Importantly
It WILL degrade the workforce to the point of
Not being able to start again after the shutdown
Let’s just close our eyes to the shutdown
Thursday will be the day when we know it’s starts
Do you think you will have a functioning workforce after two weeks or a month?
Nope
A lot of people are facing a financial disaster.
How many of you are paycheck to paycheck?
If you are then you’ll get why you just can’t crawl back from a shutdown.
A lot of people will leave.
Rauner would love it if he weren’t going to get blamed for it
That’s why the increase in blame Madigans
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:02 pm
This does put 31 in a bit of a bind. If they abandon the We are One coalition, then where will the coalition be when Article 14 gets “reformed.” On the other hand, a shutdown won’t be good for 31’s members.
I do feel for John Cullerton at this moment since he is being hit from all sides for a bargain that might not even pass the House.
Comment by A Jack Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:23 pm
>Cullerton is giving up on forcing the governor back to the table
Thanks Honeybear. Above in particular is what really sunk in for me. For the far-fetched theoretical value of the TA, there has been a lot of non-theoretical damage done to a great many people.
Comment by Earnest Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:31 pm
Amen It’s All About Me. LOL’ed on that sentence in Cullerton’s letter.
One poster said he or she was moving to the private sector months ago, where things were all peaches and cream and unicorns.
Apparently that has not happened.
Comment by Piece of Work Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:34 pm
Is this cover from last Friday’s story about the state worker denied medical equipment for her sick baby due to the states late payment of workers healthcare?
Comment by Jeep Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:49 pm
So State employees have born the brunt of this budget crisis. Talk about alt news/reality. They have gotten raises, make more than many comparable employees in the private sector and actually have a pension. Tell this tale of woe to employees working with people with disabilities in the community who make 2/3rd/s of what state workers get and with out a pension. This is a joke.
Comment by NeverPoliticallyCorrect Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:50 pm
== Cullerton is not doing all he can to help us.==
Is it Cullerton’s job to “help” you or is his job as Senate President to find and try to negotiate a plan that works for all the citizens of Illinois?
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:00 pm
“The letter means nothing. ”
Doesn’t it mean a great deal concerning your health insurance premiums? The $1.81 billion for the state employee group health insurance program is $455 million more than the Governor requested for FY2017. That amount would largely plug the estimated $581 million deficit in the program (including interest costs at 12/31/2016). Which seems to mean that employee contributions would not have to increase very much.
Comment by CapnCrunch Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:10 pm
Responsa, it’s his absolute job to prevent a collapse in the state workforce. Yes, it dam well better be in the forefront of his mind.
It doesn’t matter what kind of budget comes out if there are too few people there to enact it.
I’m telling you.
The state workforce has been crushed.
Even if there is a budget, the workforce
has been irreparably degraded.
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:12 pm
CapnCrunch- Nope. We will still have to pay 100% more for our health insurance premiums. Higher copays higher deductables, everything higher for less service. THIS YEAR possible retroactive to July 1 of last year. Next year it will probably go up.
No the only thing that happens with funding the group health insurance is that I will stop getting collection calls for the STATES’ portion of my medical bills. I pay my premiums, copays etc, but the state has not paid theirs.
My health insurance is going to double immediately upon imposition
Which could come any day.
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:17 pm
State workers did not get raises bub.
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:17 pm
AFSCME said their proposal would only bean modest increase for the state. But an increase is still an increase and every one not affiliated with AFSCME doesn’t want any increase to the taxpayers. Even Democrats see this now. AFSCME is on life support.
Comment by Willie Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:38 pm
NeverPoliticallyCorrect: This might be true in some pay categories, but it certainly is not in mine. Comparable skill set/experience in private sector would net me personally between 30-45% more take home pay. I like my current position and am OK with the significantly less pay. Money is not everything.
Painting with such a broad brush, you miss the fact that the situation is more complex than your simple blanket statement supposes.
Comment by anonymouse Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:48 pm
Does anyone think the Appellate Court will rule on the permanent stay motion this week?
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:11 pm
The backlog of bills in the State Employees Group Insurance Program is owed mostly to the insurers (Blue Cross; Health Alliance;)and to the providers (hospitals, doctors, etc. who take assignment of the benefits. With interest. The State HAS to catch up at some point, so Cullerton isn’t really giving anything of substance (even if he could pass it, which is dubious). State and university employees and dependents already got the health care represented by these back bills. Sure catching up is important, but we’ve lived with this mess for a long, long time and who is to say we won’t be living with it a whole lot longer???
Comment by formerpro Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:39 pm
=would net me personally between 30-45% more take home pay=
If you’re tier 1 your early retirement benefits close that gap and then some arguably.
Why are taxpayers paying janitors $69k before overtime? Why are they retiring in their 50s with guaranteed life-long pensions? They make $16/hr in the private sector. Why should taxes be raised again without this being addressed? Why should universities be closed before? Why should cuts in aid to the needy happen first? Sorry, a pay freeze, health insurance hike, and overtime not kicking in until 40 hours needs to come first.
Comment by Robert the 1st Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:33 pm
Wish we could find a janitor around our building, Robert. The place is absolutely filthy. Floors in my office are mopped once every couple of YEARS. And the workers are mostly in their 50’s and none that I know have any hope of retiring before age 65.
Haven’t had a pay raise in several years. Already have had health insurance hikes. I don’t get overtime, regardless of the number of hours I work. And am not in the pension system.
Straw man arguments are easy to tear down.
Comment by anonymouse Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:10 pm
=Straw man arguments are easy to tear down.=
Like yours there? Not in the pension system? No overtime? What do you object to in Rauner’s offer then? Good grief.
Comment by Robert the 1st Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:15 pm
===What do you object to in Rauner’s offer then?===
Oh, I don’t know Robert. Could be the 100% increase (for starters) in insurance premiums, deductibles, and copays or it could be that unfettered privatization thingy.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:19 pm
AFSCME All State Workers, Robert.
Just tired of being the convenient scapegoat for the past 20 years of bad decisions made by our pols. This is similar to a homeowner who bought a house with a balloon mortgage. We all knew the ramp was coming for many years. Nothing was done about it, save for a short time with the temporary tax hike. Well, now the bill is due for all the money you spent over the past 20 years and that bill is high. Is it the state worker’s fault? Heck, no. So why blame us?
Comment by anonymouse Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:32 pm
Apparently the comments do not allow mathematical symbols.
AFSCME does not equal All State Workers.
Comment by anonymouse Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:33 pm
–What do you object to in Rauner’s offer then? Good grief.–
It’s not an offer. An offer is a nice word. “May I offer you a slice of cheese?” No this is a hostile assault on our union. It is poisonous pill designed to kill us AND AND AND
Will allow Rauner to privatize WITHOUT deference to cost or jobs!
Come Robert, I say you are a hypocrite if you are for that contract which so goes against fiscal conservatism.
It’s a blank check for cost overruns and crony capitalism.
It can be implemented at almost any time!
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 5:43 pm
Robert the 1rst, Instead complaining about janitors that live a middle class life how about we discuss the hundreds of millions of EDGE agreements given to companies without a BIT of accountability? Hmmmmmm? Let’s discus that for a while Mr. Fiscal Conservative. How many jobs did they bring in? Did they build that facility? Why not release the 2016 recipients early? Let us know Governor how our coffers were siphoned off! I’m offended by that! You’re offended by a janitor who was able to provide a good life to his family.
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 6:01 pm
AFSCME have lost all of its key allies and the support within their own ranks are not as strong as it used to be. Party is over AFSCME
Comment by Tim K Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 7:51 pm
So nice to see all the union haters on here.
Comment by Generic Drone Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:42 pm
=Instead complaining about janitors=
Why is it one or the other?
Comment by Robert the 1st Wednesday, Feb 15, 17 @ 8:31 am
There is not a single janitor that I have met that is living even a lower middle class lifestyle. And I doubt even the manager that oversees them all makes 69K. These folks are just eaking by. So… So what? You apparently found a single janitor on the state payroll that makes that much. Down here in the trenches, NONE of them make half that much. Why are you hating on janitors so much anyway, Robert?
The real truth here is that the state gave everyone a real tax break for the past couple of decades, giving services to us all services below the cost of providing them. We’ve been living on credit. Now the balloon mortgage payments are due, and the credit cards are maxed, we have billions in unpaid bills, billions more coming in and not enough income to pay for it all. We all knew it was coming. Blaming state workers for the politicians failure to do their jobs is just plain ignorant. NOT OUR FAULT you all are bad at math and didn’t pay attention.
Comment by anonymouse Wednesday, Feb 15, 17 @ 9:02 am