The editors of the Wall Street Journal comment on the contract negotiations in Illinois between AFSCME and the state, i.e. the governor:
Although the union’s contract expired last summer, a “tolling agreement†means the previous contract’s terms continue until a new contract is signed. That gives union leaders little incentive to bargain in good faith. Mr. Rauner has made deals with other unions, including the Teamsters, and he recently said he’d start a merit-pay system for state workers, giving them a chance to earn bonuses. But Afscme rejected the idea, calling bonuses based on “subjective†criteria “tone-deaf and heartless.â€
Afscme leaders prefer the status quo, in which union clout matters more than worker performance. That has been costly for Illinois taxpayers. Between 2005 and 2014, Afscme base salaries increased 49%, to an average base of $66,582 in 2014 from $44,583 in 2005. That cost the state some $3.5 billion more than it would have if salaries had grown at the rate of inflation. State pension obligations to Afscme workers have also grown at an unsustainable pace in the high-tax, slow-growth Illinois economy.
If the labor board rules that contract negotiations are at an impasse, Mr. Rauner will make a final offer and the union will vote on it. If Afscme rejects the deal, the union would go on strike, a less than appealing option since Afscme lacks a strike fund to cover salaries. The union strategy is to break Mr. Rauner or wait him out until the next Democratic Governor arrives. Mr. Rauner isn’t blinking despite seven months without a state budget, and at this point he can’t afford to without letting down the taxpayers who elected him in 2014.
Note those figures in the second paragraph. Base salaries have increased 49% over ten years in which inflation has been notably low, at least official inflation. But that ain’t the half of it. The number of AFSCME state employees has risen by 17% since 2008. And most Illinois public employees still have defined benefit retirement contracts, something that has all but vanished from the private sector and which the state is powerless to change due to provisions in the state constitution. Increasing salaries means bigger pensions, too.
Look, I get it. Most of Illinois’s AFSCME employees aren’t eligible for extravagant pensions but there is such a thing as economic reality. State, county, and city governments depend on three things for revenue: incomes, real estate values, and retail sales. Growth in all of those has been tepid in Illinois. The contracts were negotiated when the economic landscape for the state looks a heckuva lot different than it does now.
We really need a change from the status quo. The borrow and tax strategy that’s been used for the last couple of decades (if not longer) just doesn’t cut it any more.
The State workers I’ve spoken with think that Rauner wanted a strike all along. I don’t know, but I get a sense of resignation that a strike is inevitable. The question I’ve sometimes asked is whether they know if their job is “essential,” which would mean they would continue to work during the strike. Seems like a lot of uncertainty but a lot of jobs might be essential.
“The number of AFSCME state employees has risen by 17% since 2008.”
This number surprised me, as I regularly read numbers in the paper in which Springfield’s downtown businesses are closing or cutting back because of something like 20% reduction in the number of state workers over the last 10 years. (My understanding is the Thompson Center situation similar has fewer employees behind the proposed sale)
At least some of what I think must be happening is AFSCME has extended its coverage, beginning with the tortured relationship state workers had with Quinn. Also, there are numerous “management” positions that have been filled over that time by temporary appointments. The slow, but steady increase in union benefits and wages has made some employment structures upside down. To be promoted can mean reduced pay and benefits for more responsibility and less longterm protection. Historic nonunion jobs become filled by union employees under temporary assignment.
Basically, although the total number of state employees has gone down the number of state employees represented by AFSCME has gone up.