The
Illinois General Assembly has voted to strip state workers of the right to
strike, and the unions actively lobbied to make it happen.
A bill
passed Saturday would apply mediation and arbitration procedures to all state
workers in Illinois. The procedures are already used when negotiations fail
between governments and police, fire and other emergency workers when they
can’t agree on a contract. Emergency workers like police and firefighters are
not allowed to strike because it would endanger lives if they did.
Arbitration
is a process through which a binding labor contract is put together by a panel
of seven arbitrators agreed upon by both sides, and one and one neutral panel
chairman. Each side puts forward proposals and argues for them and the panel
picks which parts of which proposals go into the final contract. The panel’s
decision becomes the contract.
Under
Senate Bill 1229 passed last week, the mediation process would kick in at most
30 days after the expiration of the current contract if the state and the
workers aren’t able to agree on a contract before then. If a mediator still
cannot get the two sides to agree after another 30 days, either side can call
for arbitration.
Republicans
objected to the arbitration bill in both houses. They called it a power grab and
a way of taking the governor – and thus any taxpayer representation – out of contract
negotiations.
Democrats
arguing in favor of the bill said they were particularly concerned about
statements the governor made during the Republican primary alluding to a
potential strike or lockout and government shutdown. They said the governor was
talking about it almost gleefully, as if he was looking forward to a clash with
union labor.
State Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, who sponsored the bill
in the Senate, said that the threat of a strike or a lockout is normally a tool
used by either side to force moderation in a negotiation.
“It seems
clear to me and to many others that when one side actually is courting a
strike, that moderating influence disappears,” Harmon said.
Harmon also alluded to comments the governor made
referencing former President Ronald Reagan’s famous clash with the air-traffic
controllers union in the 1980s. Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking workers,
a move that would soon after result in the union’s demise.
“We may
have to go through a little rough time,” Rauner told a Republican audience
during the Republican primary. “If we have to do what Ronald Reagan did with
the air-traffic controllers, if we sort of have to do a do-over and shut things
down for a little while, that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Republicans
cried foul over using Rauner’s words to suggest he hadn’t been negotiating in
good faith.
But
Democrats point out that the governor has hardly been hiding his feelings on
the matter.
“This
is an administration that has made it clear that in its view, whether it be on
why we lack the necessary revenue to pay for services or why we lack the
ability to build a new school, that the problem is organized labor, and they
must be ground to the dust,” said Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago.
Many of
the Republicans arguing against the bill said that when contract negotiations
go to arbitration, the unions tend to win. But the numbers tell a different
story.
Illinois Times looked at all of the issues that were
settled by interest arbitration in 2014. Of the 119 issues where a clear winner and loser could be discerned, arbitrators sided
with the unions on 51 issues, while the government won on 68 issues.
When
contacted, a representative of the governor’s office wouldn’t say if he planned
to sign or veto the bill. Once sent to the governor, he has 60 days to sign or
veto the bill before it becomes law. If he vetoes the bill, the General
Assembly will have another 15 days to override the veto. That means it could be
August before the bill is made law. The contract it applies to expires July
first.
Contact
Alan Kozeluh at intern@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2015.
