Sisters and Brothers,
The bargaining committee had hoped to negotiate a complete package to vote on, which would have included a new contract and the County’s furlough day proposal. Unfortunately, the County continues to stall meaningful contract negotiations. Therefore, the vote tomorrow will only concern furlough days, and not a new contract.
Here are the basics of the County’s furlough proposal that will be voted on tomorrow, Thursday, March 10:
- Employees would take either 10 furlough days or 5 furlough days and 5 shutdown days (April 22, May 27, July 1, September 2, November 25), and the County would decide whether it would proceed with just furloughs or furloughs + shutdown days.
- The furlough days or shutdown days would not affect vacation accrual, and would not affect pension accrual if employees follow forthcoming guidelines on how to avoid pension consequences.
- The furlough days would have to be taken by November 30, 2011.
- In exchange for furlough days, the County would agree not to layoff any employees until November 30, 2011, unless the County “in its sole discretion, determines that it must lay off Employees to maintain a balanced budget during the term of this Memorandum of Understanding. . .”
The terms of this proposal were not finalized until 8:00pm this evening, as AFSCME continued throughout the day to negotiate better terms. The County rejected numerous AFSCMEproposals on furlough days, including a proposal spearheaded by our local, to guarantee no layoffs through November 30, 2012. For those interested, the complete furlough proposal will be available at each voting site for review prior to voting. We also will make every effort to send it to you in an attachment to an email once we obtain it electronically on Thursday morning.
The bargaining committee will meet with the County again on March 18th to continue attempts to secure a new contract.
In conclusion, I want to remind you that our sister locals (investigators and support staff) face drastic numbers of layoffs. Whatever decision you make, please try to be respectful to people who do not share your point of view. Not only will layoffs mean that our work as attorneys will be significantly hampered, layoffs will also mean that life changing events will take place for many of our co-workers. We all know how hard it is to make a living these days and it will be very difficult to see our co-workers laid off onto the street. So, it should not be difficult for us to empathize with their plight. Some of you know exactly what it means to be laid off because you experienced it first hand four years ago. I guess all that I am asking is that when you vote, you vote not only with your intellect and mind, but your heart as well. Solidarity is a principle that should be in our hearts and minds.
In Solidarity,
K. S. Galhotra
President
AFSCME Local 3315
The Cook County Public Defenders Association
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