Illinois Items The Office of Collective Bargaining (OCB) found in March that Local 38 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had probably violated the rights of non-union workers in its bargaining unit at the Illinois School for the Deaf, Jacksonville. The finding, a first in OCB's history, concerned charges by non-union workers that the union had not represented their best interests in negotiating a workshift schedule and had attempted to coerce them into joining the union. The 110-day coal strike cost the state $7 million in lost revenues according to a report by the Energy Contingency Council: Task Force on Economic Impact. The report says that much of the loss will be recovered as production resumes at above normal levels to replenish stockpiles. A block occupied by the old Sherman House Hotel in the Chicago Loop was selected as the most valuable location for a proposed State of Illinois Center by the Capital Development Board March 29 pending further study and confirmation. The center would house over 50 state agencies and about 3,400 employees. A move to shut down the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home in Bloomington has been rejected. A 14-member committee appointed by Margaret Kennedy, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, recommended instead that the home take in more children. Gov. James R. Thompson said in April that the state employees insurance contract would cost $10 million less than expected. He recommended that $7 million of the savings be used to aid financially hurt school districts and the remaining $3 million go to the General Revenue Fund. The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) is asking private firms to assist in defining the proper role for computers in government in the 1980's and to suggest ways to cut the costs of computer usage. Illinois has the largest computer operation of any state government in the country. A Capital Development Board study suggests that the state institute a van shuttle service for transporting state employees to and from work in the Capitol complex. The system would be for employees living within 15 miles of their offices. June 1978/Illinois Issues/29
|
|||||||||||||||
