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By Monique Garcia Clout Street 6:27 p.m. CDT, March 15, 2012 Thousands of union workers gathered across Illinois today to protest Gov. Pat Quinns proposed budget cuts that include mass layoffs and the closure and consolidation of several state facilities, including prisons. State employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employeesgathered outside the governors Chicago office and the executive mansion in Springfield, chanting and holding signs that read No Quinn Cuts and Defend Human Services. Some workers even took their message to far southern Harrisburg, where they helped with tornado clean up from this months deadly storm. Edward Schwartz, a child protection worker for the Department of Children and Family Services, said Quinns proposed cuts would severely hamper his agencys ability to do its job and put people at risk. He questioned Quinns spending priorities, saying he signed a major tax increase to provide needed services but then gave large tax breaks to Chicagos financial exchanges and Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. Were already short-staffed, said Schwartz, who lives in Rogers Park on the citys Far North Side. I am one of those people on the front line. And if we dont have the staffing and resources that we need, its only a matter of time. Quinn has proposed sweeping cuts to deal with the states massive budget problems, saying he knows program reductions and closings are hard but sacrifices must be made. A spokeswoman for Quinn's budget office said the cuts are needed because growing Medicaid and pension costs are "unsustainable" and "continue to squeeze all areas of the budget." "The closures and consolidations proposed in the state budget are hard but necessary," spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said. "They impact every region in our state, but due to decades of fiscal mismanagement tough decisions need to be made to address the states budget challenges." Workers say they already have agreed to furlough days and delayed raises, and many more have not receive scheduled pay increases after Quinn refused to pay them citing a lack of money. The union sued citing breach of contract, and the case is still in court. It just doesnt make sense, said Lydia Williams, who works with the Department of Human Rights. He brags about creating jobs, and now you have a budget where youre going to lay off 3,000 employees? Quinn, what are you thinking? Whats wrong with this picture? Quinns office and the union are currently in negotiations over a new worker contract thats slated to go into effect on July 1. A spokesman said those talks are separate from budget negotiations, but acknowledged its an awkward situation.
Local critics say new Illinois budget plan could impact public safety
by Marc Cox / 4 News KMOV.com Posted on March 15, 2012 at 5:24 PM TROY, IllinoisA group of critics in Southern Illinois are opposing a budget plan to close 16 of the states 20 dispatch centers for the state police. Those cuts would include the Collinsville District 11 Dispatch Center, a communications center that doesnt just dispatch traffic calls on the interstate. It also communicates with undercover drug teams and members of the fugitive task force. So when Officer Michael Braxton was shot in East St. Louis March 6 at the Orr-Weathers housing project, some police worry remote dispatchers wouldnt have been much help. They call in and its not a specific address or at the 50-mile marker. Its Im in the Orr-Weathers housing project. These people answering the phones in Springfield will have no idea were these things are at, said Troy Police Chief Bob Rizzi. Thats why some call the cuts a public safety issue, especially in a region with a high violent crime rate. Under the Illinois Governor Pat Quinns plan, Springfield would be the nearest dispatch center. It would also cost $15 million to consolidate, which leaves the state looking for money. Theyve got to make cuts somewhere. Why not make the cuts here? Well a couple months ago Governor Quinn gave hundreds of millions in tax breaks to big corporations like Chicago Merc Exchange and Sears, then turns around and wants to cut middle class jobs, said Carla Gillespie, dispatchers union representative. At this point the plan still needs funding, but continues to move ahead in the State Capitol. A spokesperson for Illinois State Police says its premature at this point to comment on specific plans, but added the department does not believe it would impact public safety. That clearly puts them at odds with their own employees and other local law enforcement agencies.
Closing the Fox Valley ATC would save about $2.6 million and would result in 18 layoffs. Puckett said the women living at Fox Valley ATC paid $219,000 to Springfield in the form of rent last year. He said they also pay Social Security and child support. Bradley said the women pay 20 percent of their earnings in the form of rent. After taxes, the women collectively earned more than $1 million last year, Puckett said. So many of these women never worked a day in their lives, Puckett said. They have to work on themselves. Thats why they are here. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Fox Valley ATC is the least expensive transitional facility in the state, with an average cost per inmate of $18,245. Tamms Correctional Center, a maximum security prison also on the chopping block, spends more than $64,000 per inmate yearly, and would save the state $26.2 million if closed. Support for center State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, DAurora, said Thursday she is sending a letter to State Rep. Luis Arroyo, head of the Public Safety Appropriations Committee, asking for the centers be fully funded in Fiscal Year 2013. ATCs prepare offenders for their release into their communities by providing jobs, education and counseling and a gradual return to responsibility and freedom, she wrote. Kane County Board member Bonnie Kunkel of Aurora said that keeping the center open is one the more cost-effective deterrents to criminal activity. We cant send women back to a bad environment, she said. George Schuss of Aurora was a resident at the Aurora facility in the late 1990s, when men were housed there. He said the programs there helped him overcome substance abuse problems. This is a blessing here, he said. Approximately 2,250 women have lived at the Fox Valley ATC since it became a womens facility in August 2000. Puckett estimated that 50 percent of the women who go through the program avoid jail time in the future, compared to a 15 percent success rate for women who do not enter this sort of program.
Murray Center employees, parents and residents picket as part of "No Quinn Cuts."
Murray Center employees, parents and residents joined employees of Centralia Prison for a statewide protest against Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's proposed cuts. The American Federation of State Council and Municipal Employees organized the No Quinn Cuts pickets at more than 50 locations across the state Thursday.
AFSCME Council 31 Staff Representative Ed LaPorte says the governor's plans go beyond the proposed closure of Murray Center. There is an attack by this governor on our members across the state of Illinois. He is proposing an almost 10-percent budget cut to every single department in this state. We are not going to allow him to balance the budget on the backs of our members, LaPorte says.
AFSCME Local 401 President Joe White says that the No Quinn Cuts campaign is meant to highlight the many different kinds of cuts proposed by the governor. White says the cuts would produce job losses, loss of a home to residents at Murray Center, and loss of services that affect nearly everyone in the state. People think lines at the DMV are long or lines at social service agencies are long. With these cuts, they're just going to continue to grow longer, White says.
The Murray Center picketers dressed in green shirts along Highway 161 and asked drivers to honk in support of the facility.
Workers protest proposed state cuts Rally in Dixon one of 40 across the state
BY EMILY K. COLEMAN Created: Friday, March 16, 2012 1:15 a.m. CDT DIXON Amid the green shirts and the green signs, one protester marching along the old Lee County courthouse lawn was still in her scrubs. Because of her contract, the Dixon Correctional Center nurse couldnt speak to the media, but she was out, picket sign in hand, protesting Gov. Pat Quinns proposed cuts and facility closures. She was one of at least 60 state and Kreider Services workers protesting in Dixon at one of at least 40 rallies across Illinois. Theyre all members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union. (When the services agencies like Kreider provide moved to the private sector, AFSCME continued to represent those workers, AFSCME spokesman Kathy Steichen said.) The governor proposed about 60 closures and consolidations, including shutting down the controversial super-max Tamms prison. Thats where we send the worst of the worst, said Rick Ruthart, a corrections officer for the last 17 years and president of Local 817. You get rid of Tamms, and where are we going to send these guys? And thats a deterrent for the guys that are in prison. If you act up and you misbehave, theres a possibility you could go there. None of Dixons facilities were marked for closure, but Lynette Roach, president of Mableys Local 172, isnt breathing a sigh of relief. We were not on the slate this time, but that doesnt mean we wont be out here supporting our other facilities, our union brothers and sisters, because we could be tomorrow, Roach said. Roach works in Mableys recycling department as a mental health technician and vocation instructor. Twice weve deferred our raises, she said. Weve stepped up to the plate. Youve got big corporations who the governors giving big tax breaks to. Maybe they need to step up to the plate and defer the tax breaks that they were given. Roach was one of the AFSCME members out under Dixons arch in July, protesting the governors decision to cancel a planned 2 percent raise for state workers. Among the union-provided signs that also were waved during Julys protest, there was an addition: End corporate tax breaks. But the budget doesnt come down to just closures. Grants like those Kreider Services receive have been reduced over the years. Bob Logan, of Franklin Grove, works in residential care for Kreider and is their locals president. He also is running for the Lee County Board. The cuts affect all of us, Logan said. Kreider Services has been significantly hurt by the cuts, which then makes it difficult for us to negotiate with Kreider (in terms of wages) because the moneys not there. Kreider employees have received very nominal increases that havent kept up with the cost of living, he said.
The only thing I know is a lot of the inmates have stated that they dont want to move. They dont want to leave because its farther for them to go and farther for family to visit. I know theyre concerned about the programs we have here for them (including cosmetology, dog training and other programs). Everybody just needs to keep their chins up. We need to work together. We need to be optimistic and put forth the effort. This is a fight we all have to do to help our lives and the changes going on. I know my kids are worrying about us having to move, having to leave their friends and moving farther away. We all just need to band together and fight this to the very end, Petree said. Jim Boland, vice president of AFSCME Local #1133 and Shane Long, executive board member of AFSCME Local #1133 both shared the same sentiments that it was overwhelming to see the support of all the people in the communities coming together to support the cause, citing the rally at Dwight Township High School and the picket, which more than 500 people attended Thursday.
As for the barbed wire: We have to look like this. Were a maximum facility for young adults, said Sharon Konopka, president of AFSCME Local 1753 and a counselor at the youth center. Konopka said many of the youths at Joliet are 17 and older. Theyre fully developed young men, and they have committed violent and heinous crimes, she said. You cant have a campus-like environment for murderers and rapists and people facing 50 years in prison. Theyre going to run. A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice has said the state has maximum security facilities at its youth centers in Kewanee, Harrisburg and Warrenville, while St. Charles is being equipped for maximum security. However, the departments Web site only describes Joliet and Warrenville as maximum security facilities. And Warrenville is for female inmates only. We specialize in dealing with these types of kids, Bridges said. Were trained from the day we arrive here on how to carry ourselves and how to relate to these kids.
Workers from the Jacksonville Developmental Center and Jacksonville Correctional Center marched. Employees of the Jacksonville Developmental Center and Jacksonville Correctional Center marched on Morton in front of the JDC as part of a statewide coordinated effort by AFSCME. The correctional center in Jacksonville is not one of the two prisons Governor Pat Quinn wants to close. However, Cameron Watson, president of AFSCME Local 3549, which represents the corrections officers, says they marched to send a message. Quinns plans with his cuts are going to drastically overload the parole system. he wants to cut parole in half, which will double the case loads for the parole agents, he explains. Tamms Correction Centers been very effective in helping drive down staff assaults. Back in 2006, we had a severe sexual assault on one of our members at Jacksonville Correctional Center, and that inmate got transferred to Tamms. Tamms was built to hold violent, aggressive offenders as well as the gang leaders and stuff to help get the gangs out of the prisons. So, it does affect us, even though our facilitys not slated for closure, continues Watson. Workers at the Jacksonville Developmental Center were also present at the march. About 400 jobs would be lost if the JDC closes. Watson hopes legislators in Springfield can do something to prevent that from happening. Hopefully the legislators step up [and] appropriate the funds to keep these facilities open, he says. [Quinns administration] still [has] no real plan on what theyre going to do with these residents when they release them into the communities. DHS says they have one, but they dont. [At] the COGFA hearing, it was clear they still have no real plan. Quinn wants to transition residents out of the JDC into community homes. So far, AFSCME officials say only two residents have been transitioned. They maintain theres no room for them in the community.
"Dwight will slowly die if this is allowed to happen. There goes the community. He's always talked of helping Illinois. But now this effects not only the people who work there, but the communities they live in. In my mind, he's attacking the middle class." Dorothy Riley, a rural St. Anne resident, retired from Shapiro Developmental Center on Dec. 31. She was supporting her fellow union workers. "This is about protecting the people who can't defend themselves," she said in regard to the residents cared for at Shapiro. Shapiro isn't targeted for layoffs, but the facility is not replacing workers who leave either. "I know finances are a concern, but they always go after people who work the hardest, who work closest to the residents," she said. "Today may have a slight effect on awareness. At least I hope it does."
Members of AFSCME Local 51 protest Quinn budget cuts Group says closing center will have rippling effects
By ERIC ENGEL of the Journal Star Posted Mar 15, 2012 @ 10:45 PM PEORIA Gov. Pat Quinn will create a vicious cycle with his proposed budget cuts, union officials said Thursday, leaving even more people in need instead of honoring his contract to support jobs. Lori Gladson, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 51, joined a few dozen protesters Thursday afternoon at Main Street and Jefferson Avenue to challenge Quinn on what she called a "ransom being held." "Cutting middle class jobs and closing local businesses that provide free benefits to the people affects everyone," said Gladson, who also is a Tazewell County human service caseworker. "(Quinn) is trying to take the 'human' out of human caseworkers." In Quinn's proposed budget the Peoria Adult Transition Center is scheduled to close, leaving more than 220 inmates who are housed in the Downtown facility, just blocks from the protest site, to be released prematurely back into the community. His budget also proposes closing two adult prisons and two youth centers as well as 16 Illinois State Police regional emergency call centers, leaving public safety concerns related to overpopulated penitentiaries and minimal availability and succinctness concerning authority response. Lott Pickett, a correctional residence counselor at the transistion center, said the protest "is not about money, it's about saving our jobs." "The rehabilitation process in prison has kind of been lost, and at PATC we provide a transition from the institution to the community," said Pickett, speaking of a facility that not only teaches life skills but requires inmates to work without being a burden to taxpayers. "They arrive with no job and no skills and leave with money, a job and a chance to reintegrate with their families so they can be a parent and a teacher." Having spent part of his life incarcerated, 20-year-old Jared Fortune said the transition center has given him a new perspective. "I'm very thankful for the transition center because it's made me become a man and helped me realize how to keep a job and work hard at it," said Fortune, who will be released from the center March 22. He signed an apartment lease Thursday. "I know I've messed up, but people don't really understand how much it would hurt a lot of guys trying to improve if the transition center closed down." Pickett said the budget cuts will result in "crime all the way around the board," and Gladson reiterated that Quinn's budget would cause a trickle down effect on the entire community. "Quinn says he's trying to save money, but at what expense?" asked Gladson. "We wouldn't be in these positions if we didn't want to help people." Gladson is asking those who are concerned to visit www.NoQuinnCuts.com and sign a petition against the budget cuts.
Unions call for repeal of business tax breaks to stave off closures
By Ashley Griffin Show some guts, not cuts! and Quinn says cutback, we say fight back! were some of the chants from hundreds of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees who protested in front of the Executive Mansion in Springfield Thursday afternoon. The protest brought together hundreds of caregivers, child protection workers, correctional officers, state police personnel and other state employees who could possibly lose their jobs under Gov. Pat Quinns FY 2013 proposed budget. Quinn aims to cut most state agencies funding by 9 percent and close several state facilities, including mental health centers and residential centers for the developmentally disabled. But according to some workers, instead of cutting, Quinn should repeal the tax breaks for businesses that was passed last December. According to Jeff Bigelow, a regional director for AFCSME Council 31, repealing the tax cut package would be an easy way to avoid these cuts. They want to cut the Jacksonville Developmental Center [and] another developmental center, Bigelow said. They want to cut mental health centers. They want to cut adult transition centers. They want to cut prisons. They are closing 24 offices where people go apply for food stamps, and Medicaid, putting it further out of reach for people who cant afford to get there anyway because they dont have money to put gas in the car. Everything that they are doing is government for the rich and cutting back for the rest of us, and were saying they are wrong. But the tax breaks, geared at keeping the CME Group and Sears in Illinois, were the product of months of negotiations, and lawmakers are unlikely to repeal them. Quinn argues that the cuts and closures are necessary and part of an overall plan to trim state costs. The closures and consolidations proposed in the state budget are hard but necessary, Kelly Kraft, Quinns budget spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement. They impact every region in our state, but due to decades of fiscal mismanagement, tough decisions need to be made to address the states budget challenges, If action to change Medicaid and pensions this legislative session does not take place, more and more services will be reduced or eliminated just to pay these costs. We need to stop being in denial, need to stop delaying payments and need to stop the disinformation campaign in order to resolve our Medicaid and pension challenges and to make certain [that] education, public safety and our most vulnerable are always protected. While AFSCME members marched and chanted today, most lawmakers and Quinn were far from Springfield. The legislature is not in session this week, and many lawmakers are presumably doing last-minute campaigning for next weeks primary election. We wanted to let [the General Assembly] know they are going to hear about it, whether they're here or not. Well let them know that people oppose Gov. Quinns proposed cuts because they definitely hurt public service, said Kent Beauchamp, another regional director for AFSCME Council 31. It's really outrageous that he is making these cuts as a way to pay for the huge tax break that he gave to large corporations in this state. What hes saying is that My priorities are giving tax breaks to the corporations and not providing services to the public. Thats exactly what he is saying. Todays demonstration in the capital was one of 50 protests AFSCME plans to hold statewide.
Across Illinois today unionized state employees protested the proposed closures of state facilities, like centers for the mentally disabled and prisons. Randy Clark, a correctional lieutenant works at the super max prison in Tamms Illinois. He says the proposed closure would put lives in danger. Rachel Otwell has the report.