07/16/2019
Important Updates for State Employees
Let’s Move Forward!
Starting with the Stipend!
Maternity/Paternity Leave
Restrictions on Mandatory Overtime
Work in Progress
Solving More Problems
Back Pay on the Way
Upward Mobility Program (UMP) Starts Anew
The IPI Won't Stop
Let’s Move Forward!
AFSCME members have a new union contract and it’s one that will bring significant improvements to employees’ lives both on and off the job. It will take a little time and effort to put all the new provisions into action, but Council 31 staff have already gotten that process underway.
The Union has been working with CMS to try to ensure that both parties share the same understanding of what the new language means so that any complications that arise can readily be resolved. Now we’re beginning the process of providing union members with more information about the new provisions in the contract.
Because of very unique circumstances—i.e. it took more than four years to reach this settlement—the official term of the contract is July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2023. However, AFSCME and CMS have signed a side letter which makes the actual effective date June 22, 2019—the date the contract was ratified by AFSCME members—unless another date is specified in the contract relative to any particular provision(s).
Starting with the Stipend!
The contract provides that employees who are currently in an AFSCME bargaining unit and have been on the payroll for the past four years will receive a special stipend of $2,500 (that amount is pro-rated for employees who were not on the payroll for the entire four years). While the exact date will vary by agency, stipend payments are expected to begin this month and be concluded by the end of August. Click here for a FAQ with more information regarding payment of the stipend.
Maternity/Paternity Leave
The Maternity/Paternity leave provision in the new AFSCME contract has brought joy to the hearts of expectant parents throughout state government. The ten weeks of paid leave that the contract now provides in the event of the birth or adoption of a child is among the most far-sighted leave policies in the country. It will allow new moms and dads to spend quality time with their infants without having to worry about how the bills will be paid.
This new leave policy became effective on June 22. In fact, employees who were off on maternity or paternity leave as of that date based on the previous four-week policy have had their leave extended to ten weeks.
Click here to read a FAQ with more detailed information regarding the new leave policies in the AFSCME contract.
AFSCME members should be aware that while our bargaining committee had been pushing throughout the negotiating process to expand the four weeks of paid leave in the previous contract to six weeks, it was Governor Pritzker who, in the final hours of negotiations, proposed ten weeks of leave. The union bargaining committee didn’t need to caucus to respond, instead breaking out in applause!
Restrictions on Mandatory Overtime
Another key family-friendly element of the new contract is the extensive revisions to the procedures for overtime mandation in DOC, DJJ, DHS, and DVA. Currently, employees in these agencies all too often are required to work exhausting, sometimes dangerous, amounts of overtime. Assignments are made on short notice and without regard for employees’ personal commitments, e.g. a toddler waiting to be picked up at day care, a family birthday party, a child’s baseball game.
More than five years ago AFSCME won contract protections that gave employees the right to refuse mandation in certain circumstances. But during the Rauner years, management made it ever more difficult to do so. In fact, at many facilities mandation became management’s operational coverage method, with no real effort made to develop alternative strategies.
The terms of the new contract require that management at the 24-hour facilities make (and be able to document) every possible effort to provide needed coverage before turning to mandation. The new language will also strengthen employees’ right to refuse mandation if the appropriate procedures are not followed.
The new provisions regarding mandatory overtime do not go into effect until each local union and facility management have met to develop an agreed-upon plan for implementation. That meeting must occur no later than September 1.
Once the overtime procedures have been clearly established for that facility, an effective date will be set and further information provided to all AFSCME members.
Reducing overtime mandation will provide employees with more time to spend with their families, to protect their health, and to work more safely.
Work in Progress
Over the course of the coming four years thousands of employees will, for one reason or another, need to refer to their union contract to determine what their rights are in a particular situation. As in the past, a new version of the union contract will be produced incorporating all of the recently negotiated changes.
In the interim, nearly all provisions of the previous contract remain in effect and you can continue to rely on it for most questions that might arise. To supplement that earlier version of the contract, AFSCME and CMS have developed a document that inserts changes made in the most recent round of negotiations into the appropriate section of the contract. You can click here to access this “change” document.
Solving More Problems
The Pritzker Administration has now committed to tackling two more major messes that Bruce Rauner left behind. First up are the hundreds of petitions Rauner filed at the Illinois Labor Relations Board attempting to strip nearly 1,000 state employees of their collective bargaining rights.
Most of these employees are union members who are appalled and alarmed that they could lose their AFSCME representation. Council 31 attorneys have been fighting these petitions at the Labor Board, but the process is grindingly slow. Meanwhile the affected employees are left in limbo, worrying about what lies ahead for them. Now the Pritzker Administration has agreed to work to expedite this process—including the possibility of simply withdrawing many of the petitions—and leaving those titles in the bargaining unit.
Another mess that Rauner dumped on his successor: A huge backlog of grievances awaiting arbitration. Currently there are more than 300 grievances that the relevant third level committees have sent to arbitration, for which no hearing date has been set. Rauner’s attorneys simply stonewalled when it came to attempting to settle grievances or scheduling them for arbitration. As a result, some affected employees have been waiting years for the justice to which they are entitled under their union contract.
Now Council 31 and CMS are meeting in a far more constructive spirit to try to settle as many of those grievances as possible—and to get the others on the arbitration docket.
Back Pay on the Way
In the wake of the court ruling that AFSCME won last year finding that Bruce Rauner acted illegally when he froze employee step increases on July 1, 2015, the Pritzker Administration has been working to restore fairness for AFSCME members.
On April 1, all employees were placed on their appropriate step. Then the Administration worked with AFSCME in the General Assembly to secure funding for the back pay owed to employees for the steps that were missed, including the interest that has accrued pursuant to state labor law.
State agencies are now in the process of calculating how much each employee is owed for steps or longevity that were wrongly withheld. CMS anticipates that these checks will be issued beginning in August and will be paid out no later than September 30. Interest will be paid separately, most likely in October. You can click here for a fact sheet regarding payment of the back wages owed for steps and longevity.
Upward Mobility (UMP) Starts Anew
Bruce Rauner did his best to decimate the Upward Mobility Program, effectively cutting off funding needed for classwork and reducing the in-house staff needed to counsel employees and administer the program. But funding for UMP was included in the CMS budget and agreed to in the new contract, so the program is getting back on track—including adhering to provisions regarding payment of tuition.
But after such a long hiatus, there is great pent-up demand for access to this program. Program procedures need to be updated and new staff added. There are currently more than 4,300 employees enrolled in the program—with some 2,300 more awaiting counseling. Employees are scheduled for counseling in the order in which their registration was received.
If you have questions about the Upward Mobility Program, you can contact AFSCME UMP Coordinator Chris Goodman at 217-788-2800.
The IPI Won't Stop
The Illinois Policy Institute has tons of money from its wealthy backers and nothing to do with it except:
Try to figure out a scheme to eliminate public employee pensions.
Send unceasing FOIA requests to state and local governments seeking to gain as much of employees’ personal data as possible.
Attack the new AFSCME state contract as overly-generous to employees and unfair to taxpayers.
Sing the praises of privatization of public services.
Spread false information about the fair tax plan to make sure the rich do not pay their fair share.
AND: Besiege state employees with misleading mailers trying to get them to drop out of the union.
In other words, the IPI is encouraging state employees to effectively join in its efforts to wipe out their pensions, jeopardize their jobs, and lower their wages and benefits by dropping out of (or refusing to join) our union.
If enough employees fall for the IPI scheme, then public sector unions will be weakened and unable to lead the fight against IPI’s anti-worker agenda.
The best way to fight back against the IPI and the wealthy elite that is pouring millions into trying to destroy public sector unions is to work to build an ever stronger union here in Illinois. If you’re not currently an AFSCME member, sign up today. If you’re already a member, make sure you’ve signed an AFSCME Strong card to send a strong message to the IPI that you’ll “never quit” your union.
