Our Office received notice from President Todd Stroger that he plans on attempting to impose 4-day work weeks and 10-day furloughs. The Notice states the following in pertinent part:
As you know, Cook County is facing a severe budget crisis. I am writing to inform A.F.S.C.M.E. Local 3315 that Cook County will take the following actions that will effect members of A.F.S.C.M.E. Local 3315 employed in the Office of the Public Defender:
1. Effective March 5, 2007, no work week of any assistant public defender will exceed four (4) days, and ten (10) of the workweeks during the period between March 5, 2007, and the end of 2007will not exceed three (3) days.
2. Effective March 5, 2007, the salary of each assistant public defender will be reduced proportionately to reflect the reduced workweeks.
3. Effective as of the close of business on March 16, 2007, Cook County will lay off thirty-six assistant public defenders.
What does this mean? It means that Todd Stroger has notified us of his intent to impose forced dead time that amounts to a 24% reduction in pay, in addition to the layoffs.
What will be done about this? We have a Collective Bargaining Agreement that sets our wages and benefits during the duration of the contract. The notice from Todd Stroger evinces a clear intent to violate our CBA. AFSCME has already contacted the law firm that handles our labor litigation, and we will be working with them to determine the best legal route to take here. We have called a meeting of the Union Executive Board for Monday. We will keep you abreast of any new developments, and we will post our plan to combat this by early next week.
What should you do? Call Stroger or your commissioner and tell them about how the above cuts are going to bring the criminal justice system to a halt and how the taxpayers will pay more in the long run.
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