Chicago, IL – Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner abruptly broke off contract negotiations with the more than 37,000 State of Illinois union workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31. Rauner refused to negotiate any further, giving workers the ultimatum of a “last, best and final offer.”

“This is insulting,” said AFSCME Local 2858 President Diane Stokes, “Rauner is offended that workers, through their unions, dare to challenge the power of the one percent. Since getting elected, he only has one policy initiative – destroying unions to drive the standard of living of all workers into poverty.” Stokes works full time for the Illinois Department of Human Services helping the state’s poor get needed health care, food and money to survive.

The lead negotiator for AFSCME Council 31 is Executive Director Roberta Lynch who said, “Governor Rauner is wrong to walk away and try to end negotiations. Public-service workers who keep us safe, protect kids, respond to emergencies and care for the most vulnerable want to keep serving their communities, and they want to do their part to reach a fair agreement, but we can’t do it alone.”

Rauner has made it clear from the time that he was running for governor that he was itching for a fight with all of organized labor and most especially AFSCME. He praised former President Ronald Reagan for forcing air traffic controllers to strike and then firing all of them. Similarly, he said that he wanted to repeat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union and anti-worker policies in Illinois.

After getting approval from the Illinois Labor Relations Board (ILRB), Rauner can implement proposals which would give Illinois AFSCME members the worst health insurance of any state workers in the country, dropping far below state workers in Georgia and Mississippi, who now are at the bottom. ILRB members are appointed by the governor. Four of the current five members were appointed by Rauner.

Rauner’s “last, best and final proposal” will freeze workers’ wages for four years including freezing step increases. Instead he would give bonuses based on unknown criteria. Some believe he wants to go back to the days of patronage when Illinois governors gave wage increases based on political loyalty such as working precincts or donating money to the incumbents. Others think that it is a way to cultivate and bribe stool pigeons and scabs to work against the union.

The worst of Rauner’s over 200 extreme demands from workers might be his proposal to allow an unlimited ability to subcontract union work. This has led to disasters in prisons, disasters in healthcare and disasters in virtually every agency in states across the country. “We are not going to take this,” said President Diane Stokes, “AFSCME members are prepared to do whatever it takes to get a fair deal.”

For AFSCME to win this battle, they will need to gain wide public support, as the Chicago Teachers Union was able to do during their 2012 strike. They will need the support of organized labor, the people who use state services, community organizations, religious leaders and people of conscience. One such leader is Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery, who immediately responded, “Governor Rauner’s actions today prove once again that his priority is forced conflict, not progress. The 100,000 workers of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, some of whom are also state employees, are proud to stand with AFSCME as we face a deceptive and irresponsible Governor willing to use middle-class families, the most vulnerable, and our students as a wager in his fanatical game.” Montgomery continued, “This is an ideological obsession unfit for a state leader forcing chaos to enact a reckless and unpopular agenda.”

AFSCME has not ruled out legislative action, but they are also looking at other actions including a possible strike. Rauner is one of the richest men in the world. We should not be surprised that his actions serve the class of wealth. Now is the time for the working class in Illinois to come together. Whether we wanted this fight or not it is here. Let’s go win it for ourselves, our families and workers everywhere.

#ChicagoIL #AFSCME #publicSectorUnions #BruceRauner

Chicago, IL -They started filing into work between 7:00 and 8:30 in the morning. After years of schooling they landed a job with the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS). The job can be mentally draining. Conditions are bad. Today the temperature is supposed approach 90 degrees. The air conditioning hasn’t worked for more than two years. Bed bugs have again been reported as being in the building. The bathrooms are unsanitary and the drinking water has both color and odor.

Today was different. As the nearly 400 workers came through the revolving door, June 10, virtually all of them were wearing the green t-shirt of their union, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). During the lunch break their frustration with newly elected Governor Bruce Rauner exploded. Loud chants of “Get up. Get Down. Chicago is a union town!” and “Tax, tax, tax, the rich!” filled the streets outside the DHS office located on Chicago’s Northside, where they were joined by community activists.

Being a Human Service Case Worker (HSC) is an important job for low-income people in Illinois just as it is in every state. “As an HSC I make sure people that need food, health care and other means of survival get it,” said AFSCME Local 2858 Executive Board Member Bunnie Johnson.

Billionaire Governor Rauner is one of the richest men in the world. He has declared war on workers such as Johnson. He doesn’t like the fact that Johnson is a union member. That he and more than 75,000 other AFSCME members in Illinois have used their collective power to speak up on behalf of themselves, on behalf of veterans, the elderly, the disabled, children who are abused, the poor and the 99% in Illinois is a great thing.

Rauner, an extreme right-wing libertarian, thinks government’s only legitimate role is to give incentives to business. By allowing some income taxes in Illinois to sunset he personally saves $750,000 per year. As a ‘true believer’ in an extreme right-wing version of libertarianism, the new governor unilaterally suspended funding for programs addressing domestic violence, homeless youth, autism and immigrant integration. He has also proposed $4.1 billion in budget cuts affecting higher education, Medicaid, state employee pensions, Chicagoland public transit and local government support.

“This guy has declared a war on the working class. His attacks have created a unity across unions that did not exist before. We are going to join together, we are going to fight and become the voice that allows working people to be heard over the ‘ka-ching ka-ching’ of the moneyed few,” said Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 union steward Cathleen Jensen. Jensen was key to organizing a union of Professional Employees at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital. “Unions are the organizations of working people, our voice and our power. That’s why Rauner hates us,” Jensen added.

Rauner is using a real financial crisis in Illinois to try to bust our unions. The crisis was created when politicians of both parties borrowed money from state workers’ pensions to balance the state budget. The amount due is high. The state’s unfunded liability is around $100 billion. AFSCME Council 31’s Roberta Lynch writes in her Executive Director’s Report, “Despite Illinois’ budget challenges, Rauner has devoted much of his time to bopping around the state on his disinformation mission, pushing for support for his ‘turnaround agenda’- right to work zones, cutting benefits to injured workers, eliminating the prevailing wage for construction workers and taking away bargaining rights from public employees.”

Rauner has been traveling across the state visiting local governments, using his substantial wealth to try to pass resolutions supporting his ‘turnaround agenda.’ Workers have turned out in mass at village council and county board meetings across Illinois to protest Rauner’s agenda. “Our efforts are working,” said AFSCME Local 448 President Kathy Lane in Dixon, Illinois, “Rauner’s resolutions are failing because these local politicians live in our communities. We are united, so they know if they sell us out they will still have to attend our churches, send their kids to our schools, eat in our restaurants and drink in our taverns.”

AFSCME Council 31’s publication On the Move writes that Rauner has decided to start his attack with AFSCME and the union’s 38,000 state workers, but for him this is just the start. “’Bruce Rauner has launched an all out assault on the very existence of labor unions in Illinois – he has made state workers his No. 1 target,’ Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. ‘As their employer – and party to their collective bargaining agreement – he is clearly trying to make them the testing ground for his program to eliminate all union members in the state.’”

His proposals to AFSCME at contract negotiations are designed to provoke a strike. He wants to eliminate virtually all union rights to communication, representation and assembly. He has also demanded draconian economic concessions and the virtually unlimited ability to subcontract out union jobs.

AFSCME members have been organizing rallies, informational picket lines and other activities like the one on Chicago’s Northside across the state. “We are working with other unions, with the community, with people of conscious to get the word out, to get organized. Rauner is a threat to all workers,” said AFSCME Local 2858 Executive Board Member Darla Scott.

AFSCME caught the governor by surprise when the union introduced legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to allow for ‘interest arbitration.’ If either the state or the union requests an outside arbitrator to settle their dispute, the bill bans the use of a strike or lockout once the hearing starts. Further, the arbitrator’s ruling is binding on both the union and the state. The law would sunset in four years, not coincidentally, around the same time as the governor’s term of office.

The vote passed overwhelmingly in both houses along mainly partisan lines. One union official noted, “It was surprising to hear so many Republican politicians argue for public workers right to strike.” The governor is likely to veto the bill. He may play with the timeline to try to continue to provoke a strike with the intent of busting the union.

Rauner is a representative of the most aggressive anti-worker section of the 1%. He has drawn a line in the sand with this battle in Illinois. Workers’ standard of living and workers’ rights have been in a free fall for decades. The battle to preserve trade union rights has moved from Wisconsin to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri and now Illinois. It is time that we organize to put an end to these attacks. Right here. Right now. Solidarity Forever!

#ChicagoIL #AFSCME #BruceRauner

Este día fue diferente. Cuando entraron los casi 400 trabajadores a trabajar el 10 de junio, casi todos llevaban puesta la camiseta verde de su sindicato, la Federación Americana de Trabajadores de los Condados, Estados y Municipalidades (AFSCME, por sus siglas en inglés). Durante el almuerzo su frustración con el recién elegido gobernador Bruce Rauner explotó. Los trabajadores gritaron fuerte: “Arriba! Abajo! Chicago es una ciudad de sindicatos!” y “Que los ricos paguen sus impuestos!” y el ruido llenó las calles afuera de la oficina del DHS en el norte de Chicago, en donde se les unieron activistas de la comunidad.

El Trabajador de Servicios Humanos (HSC) es un trabajo importante para las personas de bajos ingresos en Illinois así como en todos los estados. “Como HSC aseguro que la gente reciba lo que necesita para sobrevivir como la comida, la atención médica y otras cosas,” dijo el miembro de la junta ejecutiva de AFSCME Local 2858 Bunnie Johnson.

El gobernador multimillonario Rauner es uno de los hombres más ricos del mundo. Él ha declarado una guerra contra los trabajadores como Johnson. No le gusta el hecho de que Johnson es miembro de un sindicato. Pero aunque al gobernador no le guste, es algo bueno que Johnson y más de 75,000 miembros de AFSCME en Illinois hayan utilizado su poder colectivo para hablar en nombre de sí mismos, en nombre de los veteranos, los ancianos, los discapacitados, los niños que son abusados, los pobres y el 99% en Illinois.

Rauner, un libertario extremista de la derecha, piensa que el único papel legítimo del gobierno es dar incentivos a los negocios. Al permitir que algunos impuestos de ingresos en Illinois se venzan, él personalmente ahorra $750,000 al año. Como “verdadero creyente” en una versión del libertarismo de extrema derecha, el nuevo gobernador suspendió unilateralmente el dinero para los programas contra la violencia doméstica, los jóvenes sin hogar, el autismo y la integración de los inmigrantes. También ha propuesto $4.1 mil millones en recortes presupuestarios que afectan a la educación superior, Medicaid, las pensiones de los empleados estatales, el transporte público en la zona de Chicago y el apoyo a los gobiernos locales.

“Este hombre ha declarado una guerra contra la clase obrera. Sus ataques han forzado una unidad entre los sindicatos que no existía antes. Vamos a unirnos, vamos a luchar y vamos a llegar a ser la voz de los trabajadores que se va a escuchar en lugar del dinero de los ricos,” dijo Cathleen Jensen, la representante sindical del Local 73 del Sindicato Internacional de Trabajadores de Servicios (SEIU, por sus siglas en inglés). Jensen fue clave para organizar el sindicato de empleados profesionales en el hospital de la Universidad de Illinois en Chicago. “Los sindicatos son las organizaciones de los trabajadores, nuestra voz y nuestro poder. Es por eso que Rauner nos odia,” agregó Jensen.

Rauner está tomando ventaja de una verdadera crisis financiera en Illinois para intentar destruir nuestros sindicatos. La crisis empezó cuando los políticos de los dos partidos políticos prestaron el dinero de las pensiones de los trabajadores del estado para balancear el presupuesto del estado. La cantidad a pagar es alta. La cantidad que el estado debe es alrededor de $100 mil millones. Roberta Lynch, la directora ejecutiva del Consejo de AFSCME Local 31 escribe en su informe, “A pesar de las dificultades presupuestarias en Illinois, Rauner ha dedicado gran parte de su tiempo a viajar a través del estado en su misión de desinformación, presionando para el apoyo a su ‘agenda para cambiar la dirección del estado’ – crear zonas de ‘derecho a trabajar’ (zonas libres de los sindicatos), recortar los beneficios a los trabajadores lesionados, eliminar el salario vigente para los trabajadores de construcción y quitar el derecho de tener un sindicato con derecho de negociar contractos de los empleados públicos.”

Rauner ha estado viajando por todo el estado visitando los gobiernos locales, utilizando su propia riqueza intentando aprobar resoluciones de apoyo a su “agenda de cambiar dirección.” Una gran cantidad de trabajadores han salido a las reuniones de los consejos de ciudades y condados para protestar la agenda de Rauner. “Nuestros esfuerzos están funcionando,” dijo la presidenta del Local 448 de AFSCME Kathy Lane en Dixon, Illinois. Dice Lane, “las resoluciones de Rauner están fallando porque estos políticos locales viven en nuestras comunidades. Estamos unidos, y esos políticos saben que si nos traicionan todavía tendrán que asistir a nuestras iglesias, enviar a sus hijos a nuestras escuelas, comer en nuestros restaurantes y tomar en nuestras tabernas.”

La publicación del Consejo de AFSCME 31, On the Move, escribe que Rauner ha decidido comenzar su ataque con AFSCME y los 38,000 trabajadores estatales del sindicato, pero para él esto es sólo el comienzo. “'Bruce Rauner ha lanzado un asalto total sobre la existencia misma de los sindicatos de trabajadores en Illinois – tiene a los trabajadores estatales en la mira,” dijo la Directora Ejecutiva del Consejo 31 Roberta Lynch. “Como jefe – y la persona con quien ellos tienen que negociar su contrato – el está claramente tratando de hacerles el campo de pruebas para su programa para eliminar los sindicatos.”

Sus propuestas a AFSCME en las negociaciones de su contrato están diseñadas para provocar una huelga. Él quiere eliminar prácticamente todos los derechos de los sindicatos a la comunicación, la representación y el derecho de de asamblea. También ha exigido concesiones económicas draconianas y la capacidad prácticamente ilimitada para subcontratar empleos sindicalizados.

Los miembros de AFSCME han estado organizando mítines, protestas y otras actividades como la que hicieron en el lado norte de Chicago en todo el estado. “Estamos trabajando con otros sindicatos, con la comunidad, con la gente de conciencia para correr la voz, para organizarnos. Rauner es una amenaza para todos los trabajadores,” dijo Darla Scott, miembra del Consejo Ejecutivo del Local 2858 de AFSCME.

AFSCME sorprendio al gobernador cuando el sindicato presentó una propuesta de ley en la Asamblea General de Illinois para permitir el “arbitraje por interés.” Si el estado o el sindicato pide un árbitro externo para resolver su disputa, la propuesta de ley prohíbe una huelga o cierre patronal una vez que la audiencia comienza. Además, la decisión del árbitro es obligatoria tanto para el sindicato como para el estado. La ley tiene una fecha limite de cuatro años, no por casualidad, casi al mismo tiempo que termina el mandato del gobernador.

La propuesta de ley fue aprobada por una amplia mayoría en ambas cámaras de la legislatura a lo largo de líneas partidistas. Un dirigente sindical señaló: “Fue sorprendente escuchar a tantos políticos republicanos apoyando el derecho de huelga para los trabajadores públicos.” Lo más probable es que el gobernador vete la propuesta de ley. El podría jugar con la línea de tiempo para seguir intentando provocar una huelga con la intención de romper el sindicato.

Rauner es un representante de la sección más agresiva del 1% en sus sentimientos contra los trabajadores. Él ha trazado una línea en la arena con esta batalla en Illinois. El nivel de vida y los derechos laborales han estado en caída libre por décadas. La batalla para preservar los derechos sindicales ha pasado por Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri y ahora Illinois. Es hora de que nos organizemos para poner fin a estos ataques. Aquí. Ahora. ¡Solidaridad para siempre!

#ChicagoIL #AFSCME #BruceRauner