Rauner Gets Edge Over State Employee Union, Will Strike Follow?
(CBS) – Gov. Bruce Rauner has scored a major victory in his battle with the biggest union of state employees.
He could now impose his own contract terms, and that could lead to the union's first strike.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley reports.
State workers demonstrated Thursday over the precarious choice Rauner has forced on them: Accept his contract terms, or walk out.
"Really, the only alternative for the union is to strike. That's the only option looks like we have if he does not negotiate with us," says Rickey Holman, a member of AFSCME Local 31.
Gov. Rauner broke off contract talks back in January, saying the two sides were at loggerheads.
This week, an Illinois labor board confirmed the impasse, handing Rauner the power to single-handedly set their working conditions.
"He has sought the unilateral power to impose his own demands, without negotiating," union spokesperson Anders Lindall says.
Under the state's final offer, the four-year contract would include no salary increase, and the union says health care premiums would double.
"If we pay additional $5,000 to $6,000 or more a year for insurance, and don't get an increase, actually our salary is being lowered," worker Safiya Felters says.
The governor says the offer is fair, and would save taxpayers $3 billion annually.
"It's good for the people of Illinois, it's good for taxpayers, it's good for state employees we now have some resolution," Rauner said.
The AFSCME contract covers some 38,000 state workers. The governor can't impose the deal until the labor board issues a written ruling.