Executive Report

By MARGARET KNOEPFLE

Appropriations vetoes mean layoffs or payless workdays

GOV. James R. Thompson announced July 22 that he had cut $289 million from the total appropriations sent to him by the General Assembly, including $115 million in general funds. He also called for the 67,000 state employees under his control (all employees except for constitutional offices and the state university system) to take five days off without pay in order to prevent about 1,300 state jobs from being eliminated through layoffs and attrition as of September 1. If employees cooperate, they would make up the $25 million the governor cut from the personnel lines of state agencies under his control. This would save between 1,100 and 1,200 of the jobs in question. (These jobs do not include the 1,450 state positions that were eliminated in fiscal year 1982.)

In early August, the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) was developing two plans to prevent the layoffs: One would be a deferred payment plan that would partially reimburse state employees for working five days without pay in fiscal 1983 by giving them five extra paid vacation days in fiscal 1984; the other plan would simply give employees five days off without pay this fiscal year.

The Illinois Civil Service Commission approved August 4 a rule submitted by CMS which would give state agencies authority to lay off workers for five days without the documentation required in long-term layoffs. According to Peter Vallone, manager of the CMS bureau of personnel, the rule technically applies to all state employee bargaining units as well as to unrepresented employees, but he emphasized the state will not apply the rule unless it gets agreement from the unions.

Whether commission rules supersede union contracts is a cloudy issue. The Illinois State Employees Association (ISEA) recognizes that the state can impose temporary layoffs but must negotiate the terms with ISEA. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents some 40,000 state workers, says the rule change does not apply to AFSCME bargaining units and that contracts must be renegotiated before the state can implement temporary layoffs of its members. Both ISEA and AFSCME say they are willing to negotiate with the state regarding the deferred payment plan and the five-day layoffs.

Other employee organizations affected by the proposed plans are: the Illinois Nurses Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union. Of the 1,300 jobs that would be terminated if negotiations are not successful, 800-900 are covered by some kind of bargaining agreement. As of August 9, CMS had neither filed the approved rule change with the Secretary of State nor opened negotiations with the unions, but expected to do both shortly, according to Vallone.

Although agency layoff plans were not final in early August, it appears that most of the layoffs (or unfilled vacancies) would occur in the following departments: Public Aid, 276; Revenue, 109; Children and Family Services, 114; Corrections, 217; Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, 285; Public Health, 40; Conservation, 17; and Law Enforcement, 28.

Veto action by the governor cut funding by the following amounts:

Elementary and Secondary Education: $49.8 million to bring appropriations down to the March budget level of $2.1 billion. (Because of declining enrollments and higher property taxes, the support level under the school aid formula has been increased from $1,562 to $1,629 per pupil, but a greater percentage of that support is being shifted from the state to local taxpayers.)

Higher Education: $12 million, but the total approved is still $7.8 million over the governor's original budget proposal of $1.01 billion. (The governor also allowed the state universities to use some of the increase in the funding level of the State Universities' Retirement System to help fund salary hikes for university employees. The funding level in the state's five major retirement systems was raised by the General Assembly from 62.5 percent of payout to 70 percent, a phase-in the governor had proposed in his budget message in lieu of immediate full funding.)

Revenue: $2.4 million, including eliminating the toll-free information line and stretching out implementation of two stages of the computerized business tax system.

Corrections: $8 million, including closing the Inner City Community Correctional Center in Chicago.

Mental Health: $11.2 million from the level of funding approved by the General Assembly to keep several centers open that the governor plans to close. He did, however, authorize $6.6 million over his March budget and kept his budget commitment to a 5 percent cost-of-living increase for community service providers.

Children and Family Services: $3.5 million, including $2.5 million in operations (with nearly $1 million of the cuts offset by expected increases in federal funding).

Public Health: $2.6 million, including $673,000 in operations.

Public Aid: $8 million from the operations budget by eliminating some 276 jobs through layoffs or attrition.

38 | September 1982 | Illinois Issues