South Central Reporter

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's proposed contract deal with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) may be a victory for the state's largest public employee union, but a Sawyerville Republican activist said it is just more bad news for the rest of Illinois' taxpayers.

"This deal, if ratified by the union's members, will most likely be good for the union but bad for the rest of Illinois," Christopher Hicks, a field organizer for a Republican consulting firm and former Republican candidate for state office, told the South Central Reporter. "We're already one of the highest taxed states and have one of the most luxurious pension systems. The Illinois Supreme Court has already ruled that if someone teaches for one day they can get a pension. This new deal, if ratified, will only burden more Illinoisans and make them foot the bill to keep all the promises he made to teachers unions."

AFSCME and the state haven't had a new contract since 2015, but WCIA and Wirepoints reported last week that a Pritzker offer to the union includes pay raises, more time off, enhanced family leave and a one-time cash stipend of $2,500 to qualifying workers. The offer is intended to offset the so-called "financial hardship" union members – some of the best paid employees in the state – have suffered during long-stalled negotiations dating back to Pritzker's predecessor Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's time in office.

Sawyerville Republican activist Christopher Hicks

Pritzker's proposed deal with AFSCME would increase salaries of some state workers by almost $7,000 over the life of the four-year contract, making the average state employee's salary come in at just less than $67,000, according to the WCIA and Wirepoints reports. The agreement allows other concessions about the membership's much litigated step increases. In early May, the union announced that members will again be getting the step increases that were frozen in 2015 under Rauner.

Following Pritzker's inauguration in January, "one of his first acts in office" was to undo the Rauner-era freeze, the union announcement said.

"This means that employees who were due step increases, including longevity steps, from July 1, 2015, through April 1, 2019, would be placed on the step they would have been on had Rauner not frozen step progression," the announcement said. "The Pritzker administration kept that pledge and across Illinois, state employees are seeing their proper step placement reflected in their paychecks, which will help thousands of union members begin to get their family finances back on track."

The concessions also seem to contradict some of the governor's campaign promises to Illinoisans, Hicks added.

"With less than a year in office, Pritzker has already broken his promise to lift up the standard of living for Illinoisans," he said. "This past session, the legislature passed 21 tax hikes, which are going to hurt people of lower incomes and our middle class the most, and we'll see more people leave our state. This deal shows that Illinois has a rough road in the years coming. We already see roughly 313 people leave Illinois every single day, and that number is only going to grow worse unless we consolidate local governments, fix our pension system and cut our taxes to take the burden off our middle class and working families."