State Workers Protest Quinn Denial of Pay Raises

By aaroncynic in News on Jul 13, 2011 2:20PM

State workers across Illinois picketed at over 75 different sites yesterday to protest Gov. Quinn's proposal to cancel pay raises for about 30,000 unionized employees. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a federal suit last Friday to force the governor to honor a 2008 contract the union had signed with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, which guaranteed raises over a 4-year period. Quinn's cuts would total around $75 million in raises.

Quinn stood firm in favor of eliminating the raises, laying the blame on legislators. The Tribune reports Quinn said “unless the General Assembly changes its mind and appropriates more money for their raises, there's no money to pay the raises and it's as simple as that.” Others however, pointed out that the governor was able to pay for raises for some state employees, as some 200 top staffers received raises last year. In addition, some members were already banking on the pay raises.

Lydia Williams, president of AFSCME Council 31 told WBEZ “"A lot of members who have large families...they were counting on this raise; so he is putting a hardship on our members.”