1,000 Illinois Administrators Win a Union Voice With AFSCME

by James Parks, Oct 7, 2008

A year after voting for the union, some 1,000 Illinois state government administrators have become members of AFSCME Council 31.  

The majority of the new union members work in the departments of Children & Family Services and Human Services, according to Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall. Others are in the departments of Public Health and Aging, as well as some smaller departments. 

Says Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer:  

AFSCME is pleased to welcome these dedicated public servants into our union family. We are proud to stand and fight for them and the essential public services they provide. 

The workers voted for AFSCME in September 2007. But the state challenged the vote, saying some of the administrators are supervisors. Under federal labor law, supervisors are ineligible for union representation.

The Illinois Labor Relations Board announced the results yesterday, even though the challenges have not been resolved because the number of challenges is not sufficient to change the outcome of the vote. Lindall says the union will continue to fight the challenges to bring all employees into the bargaining unit. 

Before the vote, all the new members were classified as merit-pay employees, a title that typically applies to middle managers. They generally do not receive the same pay raises as union workers, nor do they have the same job protections. Hundreds of public service administrators (PSA) have joined AFSCME in the past few years seeking just such protections, Lindall tells the (Springfield) State Journal-Register. 

It’s been a major area of organizing. The threats to job security, the erosion of working conditions and morale have made all PSAs and other unrepresented employees look for the protection of union representation. 

Votes from another 1,700 administrators still are pending, Lindall says. Those votes also have been cast, but the state again is challenging whether all of the employees are eligible for union membership.

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