Illinois House Gears Up For Override Of Union-strike Veto
From the Associated Press
One of the subplots of the summer-long Illinois budget standoff will take center stage this week with a likely attempt by House Democrats to restore legislation they say will prevent labor unrest.
The House convenes Wednesday to consider overriding Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a proposal that would put a potential labor-contract impasse in the hands of an outside arbitrator, rather than risk a strike or a lockout.
Here are things to know about the bill that could change the face of the Rauner administration's negotiations with the state's largest employee union, Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Rauner and AFSCME have been negotiating since winter on a contract to replace one that expired June 30. In May, backed by the union, Democrats proposed the bill that would allow either the state or AFSCME to call in an independent arbitrator should negotiations break down. The arbitrator would take the two sides' best offers and choose one.
That ostensibly removes the possibility of a strike — which has never occurred in 40 years of state government collective bargaining — as well as the chance of a lockout.
Rauner talked with bravado during his 2014 campaign of shutting down the government to save runaway taxpayer costs, but now he promises he will not lock out workers. However, he vetoed the initiative in July, and the Senate overrode the veto in August.
"He believes that the taxpayers should have a seat at the table when bargaining, and this eliminates that seat and turns it over to an unelected arbitrator," Rauner's general counsel, Jason Barclay, said Tuesday. "In our view, this bill strips taxpayers of their right to control costs in government."
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Associated Press
One of the subplots of the summer-long Illinois budget standoff will take center stage this week with a likely attempt by House Democrats to restore legislation they say will prevent labor unrest.
The House convenes Wednesday to consider overriding Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a proposal that would put a potential labor-contract impasse in the hands of an outside arbitrator, rather than risk a strike or a lockout.
Here are things to know about the bill that could change the face of the Rauner administration's negotiations with the state's largest employee union, Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Rauner and AFSCME have been negotiating since winter on a contract to replace one that expired June 30. In May, backed by the union, Democrats proposed the bill that would allow either the state or AFSCME to call in an independent arbitrator should negotiations break down. The arbitrator would take the two sides' best offers and choose one.
That ostensibly removes the possibility of a strike — which has never occurred in 40 years of state government collective bargaining — as well as the chance of a lockout.
Rauner talked with bravado during his 2014 campaign of shutting down the government to save runaway taxpayer costs, but now he promises he will not lock out workers. However, he vetoed the initiative in July, and the Senate overrode the veto in August.
"He believes that the taxpayers should have a seat at the table when bargaining, and this eliminates that seat and turns it over to an unelected arbitrator," Rauner's general counsel, Jason Barclay, said Tuesday. "In our view, this bill strips taxpayers of their right to control costs in government."
Read more in our daily News Update...