Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Rauner reaches labor deals, but still in fight with AFSCMEThe Rock River Times | The Rock River Times

 

By Mark Fitton
Illinois News Network

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration on Wednesday announced it has reached new four-year deals with several trade unions, as well as with Service Employees International Union Local 1 of Chicago and the International Union of United Food and Commercial Workers.

More than 500 employees are covered under the new agreements, the governor’s staff said.

The governor’s office and the biggest state employees union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — offered very different takes on the significance of the new pacts.

The governor’s office said the new agreements mean Rauner, a first-term Republican from Winnetka, has so far reached agreements with 17 bargaining units that represent more than 5,000 state employees.

“These developments stand in stark contrast to the ongoing negotiations with AFSCME Council 31,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

“Despite being offered substantially the same material terms as the Teamsters and the Trades, AFSCME has to date rejected the governor’s chief proposals” the administration said.

The administration described AFSCME as being “on the opposite side of these negotiations from their own colleagues in organized labor.”

AFSCME said the governor’s office was using misleading and confrontational tactics and noted it and several other large unions still without contracts represent about 40,000 state employees, or the bulk of the workforce.

The issues in the trades talks and AFSCME negotiations are often quite different, AFSCME said, citing health insurance as one example.

“Because these (other) unions have independent health plans, their members have the option not to take state health insurance,” Council 31 said in its own statement.

Similarly, Council 31 said, trade union members pay “is typically set by the prevailing wage. Our union negotiates the health plan covering state and university employees and retirees, and bargains wage schedules for more than 500 job titles.”

Besides its health insurance offer, the governor’s office said AFSCME continues to reject or resist other items accepted by some or all of the other units, including a four-year wage freeze; a performance incentive program; a collaborative managed competition program; moving the overtime trigger to the common workplace benchmark of 40 hours; and a program to enable Illinois to address minority underutilization in state government.

AFSCME said the wage freeze coupled with increases in employee health costs, including doubled premiums, would severely hurt its members take-home pay.

Further, it argued the administration is “seeking to eliminate our contract’s safeguards against reckless privatization of public services and demanding a so-called ‘merit pay’ scheme that opens the door wide to cronyism by letting politically appointed bosses determine who gets a raise.”

The contracts for the state’s unionized employees expired at the end of June.

The administration and the unions without contracts have signed “tolling agreements,” in which both sides promise to stay at the bargaining table without threatening strike or lockout.

The agreements do not make a lockout or strike impossible, but the initiating party would have to declare talks are at an impasse, and the Illinois Labor Relations Board would examine that claim.

AFSCME and several other unions are also suing in St. Clair County Circuit Court in an attempt to lock in pay while the state operates without a budget, as well as to get medical claims paid, stop layoffs and retain certain raises during the budget standoff.

The Rauner administration has agreed to suspend planned layoffs while the matters are being litigated.

Healthcare workers await talks

Elsewhere, SEIU Healthcare reps say they’re still waiting for action from the governor.

“While we are happy for our sisters and brothers at SEIU Local 1,” said SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Keith Kelleher, “the fact remains that the state’s largest bargaining units, the 52,000 low-income Illinois home healthcare and child care workers of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, continue to work without a contract while Bruce Rauner presses extreme demands that would totally destabilize this workforce.”

SEIU Healthcare employees have been working without a contract since the end of June, and Kelleher says the governor has not negotiated in good faith with the group.

“For some reason, Rauner appears to be willing to single out SEIU Healthcare for demands harsher than the other units of government with whom he has reached a deal and all of which were able to keep their bargained-for health insurance—and their union voice.”

Rauner reaches labor deals, but still in fight with AFSCMEThe Rock River Times | The Rock River Times

Rockford Human Services Department announces warming centers - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

Posted Nov. 16, 2015 at 6:00 PM

ROCKFORD — The city of Rockford’s Human Services Department recently announced warming center hours for locations in Boone and Winnebago counties.
Locations in Winnebago County include the Winnebago County Justice Center, 650 W. State St., which will have its lobby open 24/7; and the Pecatonica Village Hall, 405 Main St., which is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Locations in Boone County include the Salvation Army, 422 S. Main St., Belvidere, open from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and from 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; and the Belvidere Public Safety Building, 615 N. Main St., which is open 24/7.
For complete list of locations and hours: 779-348-7170.

Rockford Human Services Department announces warming centers - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

U.S. attorney's office checking restaurants' ADA compliance - Chicago Tribune

 

The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said Wednesday that it will begin checking if restaurants in the city and suburbs are complying with the American with Disabilities Act.

An initial group of restaurants in Chicago and the suburbs will be surveyed on their accessibility. It is not clear how those restaurants were selected, as calls to the U.S. attorney's office were not immediately returned.

Federal investigators may follow up with on-site inspections.

"The Americans with Disabilities Act is an important civil rights law," U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon said in a statement. "Restaurant owners must conform to its accessibility provisions, and we will pursue all reasonable measures to ensure compliance."

Noncompliant restaurant owners and operators will have the option to upgrade their facilities to meet ADA requirements, the U.S. attorney's office said. Those who do not comply may face a civil lawsuit and be subject to potential penalties and

U.S. attorney's office checking restaurants' ADA compliance - Chicago Tribune

Illinois leaders will meet in December - WSIL-TV 3 Southern Illinois

Posted: Nov 17, 2015 12:01 PM CST Updated: Nov 17, 2015 6:42 PM CST

By Jordan Maddox

Email

jmaddox@wsiltv.com

Illinois -

WSIL-- Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner  has rescheduled a meeting with the four legislative leaders to discuss the ongoing budget impasse. The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 18, but will now take place on Dec. 1.

Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said the meeting has been rescheduled for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

"Out of respect for the Speaker's family obligations and to help facilitate the attendance of all four legislative leaders, we are rescheduling the meeting ... Our thoughts and prayers are with the Speaker and his family at this time," Kelly said through email.

The meeting will take place in the governor's office, where he and each leader will have a chance to speak for the first hour which will be live streamed to media outlets throughout the state.

In a press release, the governor's office said they will each have ten minutes to speak about whichever issue they feel most passionately about. One issue the governor plans to speak about is term limits.

The Republican Party has been strongly pushing the issue since January as a way to take down Madigan. The speaker has been a part of the legislature since 1971.

After each person has been given an opportunity to speak, a closed meeting will begin.

Illinois will be in its sixth month without a state budget by the time of the leaders' meeting.

Illinois leaders will meet in December - WSIL-TV 3 Southern Illinois

Microsoft announces 175 megawatt wind project in Illinois is now operational - Microsoft Green Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

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Microsoft announces 175 megawatt wind project in Illinois is now operational

Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental Strategist

 

18 Nov 2015 9:28 AM

Just over a year ago, Microsoft announced its largest wind purchase to date: a 175 megawatt (MW) wind facility outside of Chicago that would generate more than enough energy to fully power Microsoft’s Chicago data center.

Today, we’re proud to announce that the Pilot Hill Wind Project is up and running—delivering clean, renewable energy that will power that facility for the next 20 years. This project will allow our Chicago data center to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy, today and into the future. EDF Renewable Energy, owner and operator of Pilot Hill, estimates that the new energy coming onto the grid will prevent approximately 328,000 metric tons of new greenhouse gas emissions per year.

I’m excited to see renewable energy from Pilot Hill coming on line. Power purchase agreements like this one ensure that our nearby data center will have a reliable source of renewable energy for years to come. We know that our data centers have a substantial energy footprint, so working to power them directly through local renewable energy projects is an important strategy to mitigate our impact on the environment.

We are strong supporters of green power, and our operations have been carbon neutral since 2012. But as we grow, and demand increases at a rapid pace for cloud services like Office 365 and Azure, we know we must work with others to rapidly develop new renewable energy options across the globe. To that end, we are engaged with industry groups including the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, utility partners and energy companies to make renewable energy more affordable and accessible.

Today is a big day for the Chicago area and our data center. We’re continuing to look for more opportunities to work with utilities and energy providers to bring new renewable energy projects on the grid, for not only our benefit, but also for a cleaner energy future.

Pilot Hill Wind Project in Illinois generating 175 MW. (Photo: Business Wire)

Pilot Hill Wind Project in Illinois generating 175 MW. (Photo: Business Wire)

Microsoft announces 175 megawatt wind project in Illinois is now operational - Microsoft Green Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs