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Fingers continue to point over step increases

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* Coming a bit late to this, but here’s the AP…

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration says it needs up to two more months to produce a plan to provide three years’ back pay to union workers.

A lawyer for the Republican governor told the Illinois State Labor Relations Board in a letter Monday that determining how much is owed to 20,000 workers is onerous.

Monday was the labor board deadline on the issue involving so-called step increases shut off in July 2015.

The letter says transferring money from other funds could jeopardize feeding prison inmates, providing utilities to the poor or medical care at state facilities.

We’re talking maybe $400 million that wasn’t put into the budget.

* SJ-R…

The administration stopped awarding step increases after AFSCME’s last contract with the state expired in June, 2015. Step increases are automatic raises given to workers in the first seven to 10 years of their careers.

A compliance officer in August asked the state to document who is owed what for the step increases, including people who no longer work for the state or are deceased. Administration lawyers said computing the information is enormously complex and that more time is needed to comply.

* Press release…

“This foot dragging is taking place despite clear direction from the courts and independent arbitrators to identify costs associated with the contractually established state employee salary adjustments and step increases long overdue to employees,” Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza said.

“Governor Rauner cannot use his own ineptitude as an excuse to ignore court orders and trample basic worker rights,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “His pursuit of an extreme anti-worker agenda that underlines his irresponsible and illegal delay in estimating the contractual liabilities that continue to grow is fiscally unsupportable. The critical issue of basic fairness aside, this information needs to be incorporated into the state’s financial statements and the lack of data complicates budgetary and cash management planning for the current fiscal year and beyond.” […]

“It’s particularly ironic that this Administration has expended hundreds of millions of dollars for Information Technology consultants with the goal of improving administrative functions at the same time he whines that basic payroll costs can’t be calculated because it’s too difficult,” she said.

Ouch.

* A big reason for the delay…

(T)he administration said it’s got three different reports it’s running: Report 1: assumes step progressions are owed through January 8, 2016, which is the date that impasse occurred; Report 2: assumes step progressions are owed through December 13, 2016, which is the date that the Board ruled on impasse; Report 3: assumes step progressions are owed through the time the report was produced, as if no impasse occurred at all.

The AFSCME union says there’s no impasse and said Gov. Bruce Rauner is playing games.

…Adding… Governor’s press office…

We responded in detail to requests for information from the Labor Relations Board’s compliance officer. The compliance officer did not order the state to start paying employees step increases by October 1st. The state was ordered to “provide information” that the compliance officer believes may be relevant “to obtain the record” of what employees were owed by October 1st.

The process of calculating current steps and backpay is complex and requires many hours of manual labor. The state has supplied voluminous materials to the compliance officer in accordance with his requests. The state is working diligently to calculate the remaining information. Prior experience from the 2012/2013 wage increase case, which predates the Rauner administration, shows how both the state and AFSCME employees can lose when the calculations are rushed and mistakes are made. In addition, the compliance officer recognized that legal disputes remain regarding the amount of step increases that are owed, and that those issues must be resolved by the Labor Relations Board or a court. To aid in resolving those issues, the compliance officer noted that a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge would be scheduled.

We look forward to resolving the remaining issues promptly so we can bring this process to a close and make all the necessary calculations as quickly as possible.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:32 pm

Comments

“The AFSCME union says there’s no impasse and said Gov. Bruce Rauner is playing games.” Even if you don’t entirely agree with the first half of that sentence, there’s no question in my mind about the second part.

Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:35 pm
So Bruce, where did all that money come from to feed inmates when there was no signed budget? Oh that’s right, you didn’t have a problem spending unappropriated money then, did you? Or shifting money around to pay contractors.

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:42 pm
The cost of his game playing and illegal behavior is costing “taxpayers” even more money.

Again.

I am certain this is the kind of stuff that Louis and LP hate, citizens being ripped off of their rightfully earned compensation and the costs associated with this ineptitude./s

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:42 pm
Another pathological Rauner failure, just like the manufactured budget crisis. Rauner could have stayed at the table and negotiated a contract, but he refused, just like he did with the budget.

Rauner rips off state workers after getting rich off of them and/or other government workers. He started stealing from the newest workers with the lowest pay, just as his income more than tripled. Rauner cost taxpayers more money than any one person in state history, per capita.

Rauner revealed his true intention when he spoke with a right wing media outlet or organization last year or so. He said national public worker RTWFL is more important than anything state government does.

Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:46 pm
The only step state employees will get from Rauner is from his foot on their necks.
Get rid of him. November can’t come soon enough

Comment by Truthteller Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:46 pm
Remember when Judy Baar Topinka was comptroller? She was respected by both sides of the aisle, and she wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. Mendoza’s press release is an embarrassment to the office—“ineptitude…trample basic worker rights…extreme anti-worker agenda…”

That’s not the statement of an elected official working for the public. That’s the statement of a political hack abusing her official capacity.

My, how far we’ve fallen from JBT to SM.

Comment by Sadtosay Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:53 pm
Conveniently, “report 3”, the report the LRB actually asked for will be on hold while the Governor produces two sets of irrelevant data no one asked for.

Comment by Kayak Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:53 pm
The first step is to fire Rauner.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:55 pm
“ineptitude…trample basic worker rights…extreme anti-worker agenda…” I’ll bite, what part of that isn’t true?

Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 1:57 pm
Rauner is s court convicted wage thief
The only reason Rauner wants two months
Is to get the verdict of impasse from his
Preferred 4th District Appelate
Then he can claim he doesn’t have to pay for when they
Walked away from the table
Remember an administrative law judge found
We are not at impasse
Regardless
Rauner like most Republicans
Has no respect for the rule of law
And Loving Christ
I can figure out how much I’m owed
It would take me just a few minutes.
It was over 12k a few months ago

Rauner is a deadbeat wage thief
No different than withholding tips and wages
This is why I have more
AFSCME volunteers than I can coordinate

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:06 pm
“A lawyer for the Republican governor told the Illinois State Labor Relations Board in a letter Monday that determining how much is owed to 20,000 workers is onerous.”

Awwww, poor guy. Maybe he should’ve thought of that before he illegally stopped the increases.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:07 pm
And yet a number of God-fearing Republican state employees will vote for Rauner again. The Democrat is just going to take away your guns, you know.

Comment by efudd Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:11 pm
So Raunites would rather comment on Mendoza’s press release than the interest on the delay in paying step increases. Yes, that’s right the state owes interest on this debt like any other debt. Way to keep screwing the taxpayers, Bruce.

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:13 pm
It would probably speed up the process if he would actually give the direction to start the calculations.

Comment by theq Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:16 pm
Agencies handed out iPhones like they were candy the last 4 years . Agencies said CMS would no longer support flip phones while other agencies still have flip phones. And laptops were handed out while the current ones were less than a year old. All without a budget.

Comment by Not a fan of new toys Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:19 pm
They’ll be waiting another 4 months at least, if for no other reason than institutional deceleration. It’d probably amaze the general public how much work isn’t getting accomplished because everyone knows Rauner is going to lose. Directors and senior staff are busy looking for new jobs, agency priorities and projects that were full-go over the summer are getting bogged down or put on hold, and the rank and file are counting the days. At least that’s what my sources tell me

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:20 pm
I’m sure most employees can share their Excel spreadsheets showing how much they are owed to help CMS do the calculations. Almost 12k for me and almost another 1k in interest, and I’m one of the lucky ones who got one last step before the contract expired.

Comment by Reserved Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:30 pm
If only the Governor had some superstars in his administration, they could use their super skills to calculate the amounts due.

Comment by Quizzical Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:31 pm
–A lawyer for the Republican governor told the Illinois State Labor Relations Board in a letter Monday that determining how much is owed to 20,000 workers is onerous.–

Mystery solved: the folks doing that “onerous” task are the ones in that state office with no computers that Rauner is always talking about.

Otherwise, I don’t see how it would be “onerous” at all, to run the numbers.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:32 pm
They’ve known all along they should have been calculating this. Every time they did a payroll, they could have calculated and accumulated the difference in pay on spreadsheets. it’s not as if the amounts have changed since they didn’t negotiate a new contract.

Comment by Thoughts Matter Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:35 pm
1.4% is going to fight this losing battle until January 14th and leave the mess for JB.

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:36 pm
No impasse on a contract that expired on June of 2015?

If your employer is going bankrupt, do you push for a 29 percent wage increase? If you see inventory running low and orders falling off, do you demand to work fewer hours than almost everyone else?

Yup, if you are one of about 38,000 Illinois state workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Twenty Illinois public employee unions made concessions and came to contract terms with our struggling state, but not AFSCME. It has been without a contract since July 2015.

That’s fine with them.

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/opinion/editorials/article183993646.html#storylink=cpy

Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:38 pm
Not to mention all of the bonuses & special salary adjustment increases that are continuously given to no non-union merit comp state employees. This includes the compliance officer Mr. Provines.

Comment by Go Hard Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:42 pm
JSM, being an educator, you’re clearly a quick learner. /s

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:52 pm
How is this not an election issue? Yes, unionized state workers are unpopular with some, but this is really hurting 20,000 plus families.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 2:55 pm
==No impasse on a contract that expired on June of 2015?==

That issue has yet to be decided.

==do you push for a 29 percent wage increase?==

That’s not relevant to the issue at hand.

==do you demand to work fewer hours than almost everyone else?==

They asked for the status quo. They didn’t ask to work fewer hours than they were already working.

==Twenty Illinois public employee unions made concessions and came to contract terms with our struggling state,==

That’s just regurgitating the party line. Attempting to compare those agreements to the AFSCME agreement are like comparing apples and oranges. Of course if you had any interest in truth you’d know that.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:05 pm
labor board officer did put out that employees are to be placed at their proper step by October 1st
http://www.sj-r.com/news/20180831/labor-officer-put-state-workers-into-their-proper-pay-steps

Comment by Jcrum Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:07 pm
LP: You buy that whole “substantially similar” nonsense? So let me ask you this: Prizker’s mansion is substantially the same mansion with or without toilets. Why is it such a big deal?

Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:07 pm
Jcrum

That isn’t happening.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:09 pm
Actually. If you look at the Compliance Officers Order, employees are to be put on their proper step by October 1st. Rauner was absolutely order to pay by that date. He’s lying again

Comment by Anonymous 71 Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:12 pm
@Sad, So you think Judy was boring? Never used any colorful language or flourish? Never accurately described Rod Blagojevich walking into the chamber and talking for two hours like Fidel Castro? Susana is a worthy successor to her good friend Judy and and respected enough to get every Republican and Democrat voting unanimously for her bills.

Comment by HappyToCorrect Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:20 pm
I am curious as to how they will “handle” those state employees who either quit after that date or who retired when they were still due those step increases? Then how will SERS handle it for those who retired BUT would have had a higher retirement basis…hmmmm.

Comment by LINK Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:28 pm
Hey LP: if the state is in such a financial mess, then why did the Guv have Mike Hoffman (former director of CMS) leave his $150,000 job and become a $240.000 a year consultant with much smaller job responsibilities than his previous position?

Comment by Henry Francis Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:45 pm
And since the state’s share is based on payroll, Rauner has made the pension debt worse by not paying those step increases up front. And the increased value the state’s contributions would have earned would have also helped with the pension debt. Do you think Rauner will make good on that?

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 3:56 pm
from the GO press release:

===The compliance officer did not order the state to start paying employees step increases by October 1st.===

To no one’s surprise, Gov. Gaslight is lying. The Compliance Order Directing a Hearing issued by the LRB compliance officer on August 29 states:

“•By October 1, 2018 all employees are to be placed on the steps they would be on if step progression had continued from July 1, 2015 to the present.
•The Rauner Administration must provide a report on the money each employee would have earned had step progression remained in effect, including the amounts they would have earned due to overtime and the amount of interest they are owed at 7% per year;
•The Administration must also provide information to the Board on its claim of “insufficient funds” to pay back wages owed for step increases for FY 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019; and
•The Rauner Administration must post the Board Notice at worksites throughout the State which says the Administration violated the law and which lists the steps they have to take to fix that violation.”

https://tinyurl.com/y9db3vss

The LRB ordered that Rauner:
- by Oct. 1, place all employees on proper steps
- provide a report on how much each employee is owed in back wages, plus interest
-document its claim for “insufficient funds” for back wages for step increases from FY ‘16 to the present (not just until January 2016)

And finally, post notices at worksites throughout the state admitting that it violated the law and will rectify the situation. These notices went up in September. Interestingly, the notice contains no compliance date.

I don’t know if any legal remedy against Gov. Gaslight is possible, especially in this late stage of the game, but for crying out loud, vote accordingly next month.

Comment by Nick Name Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 4:26 pm
More fun from “Wreck-It Rauner”.

Comment by Me Again Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 4:33 pm
Amazing…. first and foremost, thank you to Comptroller Mendoza for speaking the truth and showing what “ real courage” looks like. State workers appreciate her having our backs. Second, did the governor really end the statement with..
“We look forward to resolving the remaining issues promptly so we can bring this process to a close and make all the necessary calculations as quickly as possible.”
What a joke, a sick one. I’m surprised it didn’t end with, Smithers, release the hounds.
Lastly, in response to Henry Francis, how silly of you… only superstars are entitled to raises, those state workers making $40,000 and close to (before taxes) are overpaid, and therefore, have their wages frozen for 4 years. Oh, if we were all only superstars…..

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 5:59 pm
Does anybody know what the next steps will be? I assume that the Compliance Officer will convene a meeting sometime, but I really have no idea what this process entails.

Comment by #5 Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 6:08 pm
People like Rauner believe that anyone who goes into public service (operative word being service) does it out of the goodness of their heart and really isnt worried about earning a living wage to pay their own bills. They should volunteer because they love serving others so well. Rauner himself can easily afford to do that and can’t remember, if he ever even knew, what it is like to actually have to pay for things with little money. But in any case, stiffing public workers is no big deal. They love serving anyway.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 7:53 pm
More lies and bs from the administration. This is becoming routine

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 8:31 pm
Still another hearing to go and the loser (Rauner) then gets to file MORE appeals.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 11:59 pm