Quinn Fighting To Cancel Raises For State Workers
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Gov. Pat Quinn says he will fight to cancel pay raises for nearly 30,000 state workers, and he will go to court, if necessary, to do so.
Quinn says the Illinois General Assembly has not provided enough money to approve the raises, so they cannot be provided.
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But the 2 percent raises are required in the contracts between union workers and state government. The state's largest public employee union is not happy.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Dave Dahl reports, AFSCME Council 31 is contemplating its next move, which may involve a legal challenge.
The action by the governor, revealed last Friday – the first day of the new fiscal year – at least has united disparate groups against Gov. Pat Quinn.
Calling for changes to the compensation and pension systems, Illinois Policy Institute chief executive officer John Tillman said, "This is not about ideology; this is about mathematics."
Tillman said making the cut was the right thing to do, and he points out Quinn has now reneged on his word to both the Illinois public – in approving a 2 percentage point income tax increase – and to his employees.
And in trying to weigh the competing arguments that "there's a written agreement" and "there's not enough money," AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall says to consider that the money for the workers' raise involved amounts to about two cents per $1,000.
