The state's largest employees union says an independent third-party arbitrator has ruled that the State of Illinois would violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement by laying off more than 1,900 state employees and closing seven state facilities. The opinion is binding and AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer says the order is unequivocal and Governor Quinn should rescind all threatened layoffs and closures. Bayer says failure to comply will not only harm the vital public services state employees provide, it will expose the state to significant damages for lost wages, benefits and other costs incurred as a result of the Governor's irresponsible actions. Arbitrator Edwin Benn says there are no provisions in any of the agreements involved in this case which make an economic contract commitment by the state in any way contingent on the passing of a budget by the General Assembly sufficient to pay for those economic commitments. He notes the state made contractual promises to not lay off employees represented by the union and to not close facilities prior to July first of next year. Benn says the state simply must keep those contractual promises. He found a party is not excused from previous contractual obligations by claiming that it presently can no longer afford to meet its obligations. Benn emphasized that the integrity of the collective bargaining process itself is at stake in this case. He says if the state is correct in its statutory and Constitutional arguments, the multi-year collective bargaining agreement is, for all purposes, probably dead. Quinn is likely to appeal. He is already fighting a similar ruling over canceling union raises. The Governor has proposed closing three psychiatric hospitals, two developmental centers, a prison and a juvenile detention center in order to cut 1,900 state jobs as a result of the state's budget crisis. - http://goo.gl/01EV3
