House Labor Committee Passes Work Comp Insurance Reform. Judge Rules that Legislators Pay Can t be Held for Ransom

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1 Illinois AFL-CIO NEWS UPDATE - 03/24/17 The Illinois House was the only chamber in session this week. The deadline to pass House Bills out of committee is Friday, March 31st. The House will be primarily focused on that deadline when they return next week. Both chambers will be in session next week, beginning at 12pm on Tuesday. School funding reform may be voted on next week. G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y House Labor Committee Passes Work Comp Insurance Reform The Illinois House Labor Committee passed HB 2525 this week by a vote of This was a workers compensation insurance reform bill sponsored by Representative Jay Hoffman. The reforms include workers compensation insurance rate regulation by the Department of Insurance. It will provide employers with a compensation insurance rate reduction if they have a bona fide safety and return to work program in place. It also allows for penalties on an employer when they don t authorize medical treatment for an injured worker. In 2011, the General Assembly passed an agreed bill between labor and business. It has resulted in the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recommending a 30% employer premium cut over the past five years. It should have resulted in more than $1 billion in savings for employers. That is money that could have been invested in Illinois and our workers, but instead went to insurance companies. Judge Rules that Legislators Pay Can t be Held for Ransom Late this week, Cook County Circuit Judge Rodolfo Garcia ruled that state legislators must be paid, reversing a policy put in place by former Comptroller Leslie Munger withholding pay until a budget was finalized. The Illinois AFL-CIO supports the decision. President Michael T. Carrigan said Munger s campaign-style maneuver backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner was an executive branch overreach that would have set a terrible precedent. Holding legislators pay hostage to get favorable legislation for the Governor would prove disastrous for Illinois. Comptroller Susana Mendoza said she will comply with the order, but would seek an appeal. HB 2525 would further require transparency for selfinsured employers, like Caterpillar, to report the financial losses they have due to injuries on the job. The legislation authorized a task force to look at the feasibility of creating a non-profit state fund to provide workers compensation insurance to employers. This will result in a free market for workers compensation insurance, bringing prices down, saving employers money, and reinvesting that money back into Illinois and its workers. HB 2622 also passed House Labor Committee by a vote of State Representative Laura Fine sponsored the bill that would create a state-chartered workers compensation insurance company. The new state company would be created as a non-profit that would compete with the over 300 insurance companies in Illinois that provide workers compensation insurance. The intent of the legislation is to bring the costs down for Illinois employers on what they must pay for workers compensation insurance. State Representative Chris Welch (D-Maywood), along with several House members, filed suit in December asking the court to direct the Comptroller to follow State law and pay legislators as a continuing appropriation. Responding to the ruling State Representative Welch said, It s unfortunate that we had to do this. But we had to stand up for ourselves because we couldn t allow one branch of government to hold another branch of government hostage. I hope that the governor will now turn his attention to getting a budget done. Call For More Information On These And Other Legislative Issues Important To Working People -

2 03/24/17 Page 2 G e n e r a l Buy Illinois and Buy American Legislation Passes Committee HB 137 and HB 138, both sponsored by Jay Hoffman, passed House State Government Committee by a vote of 4-3. The bills require that state agencies must purchase Illinois manufactured goods when making any type of purchase of goods. It contains language that allows for American made and manufactured goods to be purchased when an applicable Illinois made good is not available. Public Construction Bidding HB 547 (Zalewski/Landek) passed the House this week by a vote of It makes changes to the Illinois Municipal Code and Public Libraries Act to change the threshold for competitive public construction bidding from $20,000 to $25,000. Firefighter Pension HB 688 (Zalewski) passed the House Pensions Committee this week by a vote of 8-6, and it was supported by labor. It authorizes a firefighter to transfer up to 10 years of creditable service in a downstate firefighter pension fund to the Firemen s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago upon payment of a specified amount. A s s e m b l y SEIU Legislation for Staffing Enforcement Moves in House HB 3392 (Welch) passed House Human Services Committee 11-1 this week. It is supported by SEIU HCII and the Illinois AFL-CIO. It eliminates loopholes in Illinois statute that have allowed long-term care residents to be abandoned at hospitals. It requires the state s long-term care ombudsman to be given notice of a discharge to ensure the ombudsman has adequate time to advocate on behalf of the resident. It sets up fines for long term care facilities that have jeopardized resident safety by improperly discharging a resident or violating staffing laws. This legislation goes to the House floor. Prevailing Wage HB 3120 (Demmer) passed House Labor Committee 24-0, labor remained neutral. It allows a local body to waive the newspaper posting of the prevailing wage rates by simply posting a link on their website directly to the IDOL website containing individual county rates. Rauner Administration Fires 124 Correctional Center Nurses; Will Privatize Positions Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner informed the Illinois Nurses Association that he would lay off 124 nurses at correction centers on June 15th, saying the positions would be shifted to a private consulting firm. The layoffs affect nurses in 12 communities: Joliet, Hillsboro, Dixon, Lincoln, Chester; Pontiac, Decatur, Jacksonville, East Moline, Sheridan, Vandalia, and Vienna. The INA filed an unfair labor practice against the Illinois Department of Corrections last week, citing poor and a long series of labor law violations. INA says IDOC has failed to fill open nursing positions in the prison systems, in many cases mandating nurses to work double shifts. This action is unconscionable. First, the Rauner Administration makes it nearly impossible for these nurses to do their jobs by not filling vacancies and forcing 80-hour work weeks, then he lays them off to shift taxpayer dollars to yet another forprofit consultant, said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan in response to Rauner s action. The list of Rauner carnage is growing every day and the citizens of Illinois are the victims. His priorities are wrong and families are getting hurt. These nurses should be supported and celebrated for their extraordinary service under trying circumstances. For that they get a pink slip and a private company gets a bonus. Welcome to Rauner s Illinois.

3 03/24/17 Page 3 GOP Health Care Replacement Costs Illinois 118,000 Jobs Trump, Ryan Pushing Wary Republicans To Support At press time, Republicans in Congress were still planning to run a vote on the American Health Care Act today (Friday) the GOP replacement for former President Barack Obama s Affordable Care Act. The Republican bill would: Take health coverage away from 24 million people. Jack up premiums for older people, as well as those with lower incomes and living in areas with high medical costs. Gut Medicaid, the program that ensures people struggling the most can get the care they need, by phasing out the Affordable Care Act expansion of Medicaid eligibility to more working-age adults and ending the federal funding guarantee in favor of a fixed per capita contribution. Cut Medicare funding to give a huge tax break to the wealthy few and prescription drug companies. Tax the health benefits of millions of working people while giving a huge tax break to health insurers and other companies, as well as the very wealthy. AFL-CIO Opposes Gorsuch Nomination Following this past week s testimony of Judge Neil Gorsuch s testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and after a thorough review of Gorsuch s record on cases of importance to working families, the AFL- CIO announced its opposition to the his nomination to the United States Supreme Court. In a letter to members of the United States Senate, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Justice pointed out that as a member of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gorsuch routinely ruled in favor of corporate interests over the rights of working men and women. In the case of Trans Am Trucking Inc, a trucker was fired after refusing to pull an unsafe trailer with frozen brakes and wait in a sub-freezing cab when he drove the cab to a nearby truck stop. The company discharged the driver for not remaining in the freezing cold for roadside assistance. The court ruled in favor of the driver; however Gorsuch dissented from the court s ruling siding with the corporation using a narrow definition that the law did not protect the health and safety of the driver. The nomination of Gorsuch is expected to be before the full Senate early next month. According to Illinois Working Together article, Illinois would be devastated by the bill, though Gov. Bruce Rauner refuses to take a position. From IWT: Analyses of the proposed health law describe catastrophic consequences for many people in Illinois. State Representative Greg Harris s office estimates that 1.3 million Illinoisans will lose heath insurance coverage if the proposal becomes law. The AARP estimates that a 64-year-old making $26,500 a year would see health care premiums jump from $1,700 to $14,600 a year, a whopping 758 percent increase. Plus, an estimated 118,000 people would also lose their jobs in Illinois, according to the Center for Health Policy Research. One analysis of the GOP replacement proposal, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), estimated that Illinois stands to lose $40 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next ten years if the changes become law. Harris told the Associated Press, That s money the state has to come up with, out of tax dollars.

4 Mendoza Tells Unions She Won t Back Down The Associated Firefighters of Illinois (AFFI) and the IBEW both held State conferences in Springfield this week. Both groups reviewed legislation and other issues and important to their members, and were updated on the budget and other priorities by elected officials. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza addressed both groups and ensured them that she will not back down from exposing the hypocrisy of Governor Rauner and will continue to insist that the Governor do his job. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is pictured with IBEW State Council President Dean Apple. Save the Date Illinois AFL-CIO host committee Invites you to attend the Jesse White Spring Reception 2017 Monday, May 1, :00 6:30 p.m. Illinois AFL-CIO 534 South second street, springfield, il $5,000 GOLD SPONSORSHIP $2,500 SILVER SPONSORSHIP $1,000 BRONZE SPONSORSHIP $200 PER PERSON more details coming soon 03/24/17 Page 4 Local Elections April 4; Early Voting Open Now Elections concerning local races will be held Tuesday, April 4. Early voting is open now. Contact your local election authority for voting information. Central Labor Councils and local unions have been working door-to-door and phone banks in many areas supporting local candidates and ballot initiatives. Please contact your local union or Central Labor Council for information on endorsements. This link will take you to CLC contact information: Local elections are historically very low turnout, so union members can be the difference if we show up and vote, said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan. The decisions made at city councils and boards and commissions don t make a lot of headlines, but they affect working families very deeply. We have union members running for office in several areas. Please take a few minutes over the next 10 days to vote for endorsed candidates for these offices. VOTE EARLY APRIL 4 ELECTION Delegates to National Building Trades Conference Invited to Lobby Day on the Hill Illinois Delegates to North America s Building Trades Unions Conference in Washington, DC, are invited to attend Lobby Day on the Hill. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 4 from 1:30-3:30 PM in Room SH-902 of the Hart Senate Office Building and is hosted by U. S. Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth along with the Illinois AFL-CIO and the Chicago & Cook County Building & Construction Trades Council. Lobby Day on the Hill provides an opportunity for delegates to meet face to face with Senators Durbin and Duckworth as well as many of the Illinois Congressional members to discuss issues important to the building trades industry. To attend, delegates are asked to RSVP to Illinois AFL-CIO Resource Director, Amy Rueff, at or amy.rueff@ilafl-cio.org.

5 03/24/17 Page 5 10th Annual Illinois AFL-CIO COPE Golf Outing Monday JUNE 5, 2017 The RAIL Golf Course 1400 S. Club House Drive, Springfield, IL 1 PM Shotgun Start - 6 PM Dinner Limited morning tee times available (first come, first served) $250 per player Please return no later than May 24 (includes green fees, cart, lunch, dinner and prizes) SPONSORS $3,000 - GOLD $2,000 - SILVER $300 - HOLE WRITE TEAM / SPONSOR NAME AS IT SHOULD APPEAR ON SIGN Gold Sponsor - $3,000 (includes 4 golfers, hole sign, lunch & dinner sponsorship) Hole Sponsor - $300 Silver Sponsor - $2,000 (includes 4 golfers, hole sign, refreshment cart sponsorship) Dinner Only - $50 each x Make Checks Payable to: Illinois AFL-CIO COPE 534 S. Second St., Ste. 200, Springfield, IL For more information: Terri Payne - terrip@ilafl-cio.org / Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 # of $250 ea. = $ Sponsorship = $ Team Contact Phone Number Preferred Tee Time: AM PM A copy of our report filed with the State Board of Elections is (or will be) available on the Board s official website ( or for purchase from the State Board of Elections, Springfield, IL Reserve a place for your team today!