By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – State workers represented by AFSCME – particularly the newest hires – said they hoped Oct. 1 would mean, once and for all, they would get the money coming to them through contracted “step” increases.
“Because Gov. Rauner has failed to live up to the contract, the state of Illinois will end up paying seven percent interest on these wages,” Comptroller Susana Mendoza said at a Chicago news conference Thursday.
Mendoza stood with AFSCME Council 31 members who have been due raises since 2015. One, DHS caseworker Brittney Adams, said she has had to defer student loan payments and move in with relatives to catch up on her bills.
The governor’s office sent the following statement:
Despite the rhetoric at today’s press conference, this isn’t a matter of if step increases are going to be paid, but how and when.
The administration is, and has always been, compliant with all laws and orders throughout this process.
The appellate court determined the step increases must be paid and sent the issue to the Illinois Labor Relations Board (ILRB) to determine next steps. The ILRB compliance officer did not order the state to pay employees’ step increases by October 1. The state was ordered to provide 16 categories of “information” relevant to determine what employees were owed by October 1.
We have provided voluminous material to comply with these 16 requests for information.
It takes actual work, not press conferences, to calculate these increases and actual money, not rhetoric, to pay them. The court has allowed this time and state workers are diligent in their efforts to complete the complicated calculations to make good on step increases for everyone who was promised them.
In addition, the compliance officer recognized that legal questions remain, including the time period for which step increases are owed, and ordered a hearing to address outstanding issues. The hearing date has not yet been set.
We will continue working with the ILRB to get employees paid.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
