Greedy AFSCME Wants Illinois State Workers to Get Pay Raises Bigger Than CPI

The State Journal Register reports on some proposed changes in Illinois budgeting. Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan wants some changes with the unions:

Madigan said the state faces tough budgets for years to come, and much of the spending in those budgets will be employee salaries. The resolution states that payroll for AFSCME members alone in the current budget year would have been more than $2.76 billion had lawmakers not cut personnel expenses.

The resolution also states that cost of living increases for AFSCME members have averaged 4.25 percent a year over the past five years. From 2007 to 2010, the resolution says, the consumer price index has increased an average of 1.95 percent a year.

“We have a choice. We can stand on the sidelines and let those people go off and do what they do and send us a bill,” Madigan said. “Or, we can interject ourselves now and be present through the negotiations.”

AFSCME’s contract expires June 30.

AFSCME immediately criticized the resolution.

“Instead of stirring resentment toward working people and weakening their rights to bargain collectively, Illinois politicians should focus on fixing a tax structure that has never made rich people and big corporations pay their fair share,” AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said in a statement.

Barack Obama's AFSCME. Just a reminder, when you hear Obama says these thugs didn't create a financial mess: you've got to laugh.