Posts tagged state employees.
ILLINOIS STILL HASN’T FINALIZED CONTRACT WITH STATE WORKERS
December 18, 2023 // The contract negotiated between the state and AFSCME Council 31 was ratified by members in July. But the final contract has yet to be released, meaning taxpayers don’t yet know how much it will cost them. Little-known government union fact: When government workers ratify a union contract, they don’t necessarily see the exact contract. That’s what happened earlier this year when Illinois state workers ratified a contract between the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union representing them. The language of the contract itself wasn’t final, but the state and union had agreed to the terms.
Supreme Court ruled public sector workers cannot be forced to pay dues; unions take them anyway
October 28, 2023 // After the Janus ruling, Ms. Quezambra sought to invoke her rights to stop the involuntary union dues payments, demanding she be refunded going back to 2013. The union refused on the grounds that she had allowed the union to make the deductions. This was news to Ms. Quezambra. The union “presented Ms. Quezambra a membership and dues deduction authorization card containing a forged signature that she purportedly signed. Ms. Quezambra did not sign this card,” her complaint states.
Inspector: 177 Illinois state employees commit $4.5 million in PPP fraud ‘so far’
September 14, 2023 // The OEIG released the report Tuesday. The summary shows 132 Department of Human Services employees, 25 Department of Children and Family Services employees, eight Department of Healthcare and Family Services employees, four Department of Employment Security employees, three employees each from the Department of Public Health and Department of Veterans’ Affairs and one at each of the Department of Revenue and the Department of Natural Resources have been identified “so far.”
Oregon judge deals state early loss in dues deductions case
March 13, 2023 // U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman of Oregon granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday preventing the state’s Department of Administrative Services from deducting dues on behalf of the Service Employees International Union from a state employee who never consented to the deduction. Victoria Bright began working for the state in November 2022. She declined SEIU membership because she disagreed with the union’s political agenda and bargaining tactics, according to the Freedom Foundation.
Legislative staffer unions percolate beyond D.C.
January 26, 2023 // Part of its argument is that the legislative union would violate the separation of powers because it would be overseen by Oregon’s Employment Relations Board, a part of the executive branch. “All of its members are appointed by the governor, so it's controlled by the executive branch, and that subjects the legislature to the executive branch in a specific way,” Freedom Foundation attorney Rebekah Millard told POLITICO.
N.J. public worker premium hikes, Murphy deal with unions will cost taxpayers. Leaders are baffled.
October 18, 2022 // Murphy, a Democrat, did strike a deal with several state worker unions to mitigate their costs, enraging local leaders and unions representing town and county workers who warn of higher property taxes and layoffs. In the end, New Jersey taxpayers will shoulder the lion’s share of the rise in costs, but exactly how much remains a mystery. The Murphy administration hasn’t provided an exact amount and did not answer questions from legislative officials during budget negotiations.
OPINION: Spin Control: How did state reach its deal with its unions? Have to wait to see
October 12, 2022 // The Office of Financial Management rejected Mercier’s request for the opening offers. The contracts have not yet been approved by the Legislature, it said, so the agreements are tentative and anything leading up to them would be “exempt as part of the deliberative process” under the state Public Records Act. The problem with that reasoning is that the contract approval equals biennial budget approval, which isn’t going to happen for at least six months. The Legislature rarely rejects the negotiated contract and can’t even make changes, like shaving the raises by a fraction of a percentage point or reducing the bonus for getting a shot designed to keep workers from getting sick.
Still-Unreleased Union Deal Rains Cash on State Workers
June 28, 2022 // The still-unreleased deal between the Hochul Administration and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), state government’s largest group of unionized workers, would award bonuses, backpay, and guaranteed raises the next three years, documents sent to union members show. The tentative agreement, which was negotiated behind closed doors, covers about 56,000 blue- and white-collar state employees in executive branch agencies, including SUNY.