 The Illinois House of Representatives approved its version of the
state budget Friday. Its budget includes cuts to personnel of up to
7 percent from Quinn's introduced budget, according to the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, or AFSCME.
Quinn's agreement with the AFSCME, which has about 75,000 members,
includes no layoffs until July 1, 2012, but the House budget
throws a wrench into that plan, not only by compromising state jobs,
but also by jeopardizing scheduled raises that have been deferred
because of the state's finances.
State agencies faced with tight budgets could decrease their number
of positions instead of laying off workers, which would create an
unfilled, yet retained position, said state Rep. Frank Mautino,
D-Spring Valley.
"This is how much money the committee says you, (the) director,
have. You are under a decree that you can't lay off people; you can,
however, reduce the size of your force completely," Mautino said.
"They always have the ability to say, instead of having 10 people in
this agency, in this division, 'We're going to lay off two people,
and we will recall them back,' (or) they will say, 'Forever more we
will have eight.'"
Ultimately, all state agencies are under the direction of the
governor. Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for Quinn's Office of
Management and Budget, said the governor's office will continue to
work on managing payroll, but she did not go into any further detail
as to how the House's cuts would be handled.
Mautino said he isn't leaning one way or another on layoffs; he and
other legislators were just working with the money available to the
state.
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME, said no matter how the House
phrases it, a layoff is a layoff.
"This construction is totally fictitious. It's bogus. It doesn't
exist," Lindall said.
He said AFSCME would take the fight to court if necessary.
Laura Call is a specialist for the Illinois secretary of state's
business services division and member of the Service Employees
International Union, or SEIU. The union has more than 2.2 million
members nationwide, representing workers in the health-care
industry, property services and state and local governments,
according to its website. She's been working for the state for 25
years, and it's taken her that long to get her salary of $77,796.50.
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Call said she seen her department whittled down to about 100
employees, leaving many positions open.
"Which is fine, we get to wear many hats. I'm happy to work harder,
and I consider myself extremely lucky to have a job and benefits,"
Call said.
She said her long-term employment with the state gives her a
perspective others might not have. The state's fiscally unhealthy,
she said, but that doesn't mean it should renege on agreements made.
The state Senate, too, passed a version of the budget Friday, though
the revenue figures upon which it based its numbers were less
conservative that those the state House used: $34.3 billion versus
$33.2 billion. Most state agencies would see a 5 percent cut to
personnel under the state Senate's budget.
If the Illinois Senate and House could agree on a budget, Quinn
would have the final decision, and his office did not answer
questions on whether it would veto personnel cuts.
"I don't expect that this budget will be final spending plan," said
state House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. "We want to work
with the governor, with the budget office, and we want them to tell
us where they think there should be changes in what we're doing."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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