East Central Reporter

To state Rep. Reginald “Reggie” Phillips (R-District 110), House Bill 580 “was a disastrous bill.”

The bill was a second attempt to steer contract negotiations between the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to binding arbitration – a move Republicans said sought to strip Gov. Bruce Rauner of his authority to negotiate on behalf of voters who elected him.

  

The bill also sought to grant $3 billion in taxpayer dollars to large unions over the next several years from a state in financial devastation.

“I am not so sure that the rank and file of the AFSCME union really understand it,” Phillips told the East Central Reporter. “It is just the top leadership that make $150,000 to $200,000 a year.

HB 580 passed the House in February with a 67-46 vote and a 38-17 vote in the Senate in March, but was vetoed by Rauner, as expected.

The governor’s veto stood after the House failed to gain the 71 votes needed to override the veto – falling short by 3 votes.

Capital Fax reported that AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch responded to the veto by asserting that Rauner simply didn’t want to compromise and wanted “his way or no way at all.”

Phillips, however, disagreed and said union officials knew H.B. 580 was unreasonable.

 “I’ve sat on the Labor and Commerce Board and said, ‘Hey, what is in your bill. How much are you actually asking for?'" Phillips said. "When you say the governor is not reasonable, what are you asking for? Give us an outline.’”

Instead, a union official who came to the floor instructed Phillips to read about the bill on Capitol Fax, which didn’t sit well with Phillips.

“I said, ‘I don’t want to read it on Capitol Fax. Sir, don’t you know what you are asking for? Can’t you send a letter to all of us Republicans so we can see (why) the governor is unreasonable?’ He said, ‘I’ll get it to you representative.’ Never sent me a thing,” Phillips said. “So what does that tell you? He knew what they were asking for was unreasonable.”

The problem, Phillips said, is that Democratic leadership in Illinois has made a habit of “continually giving.”

“Look at Chicago public school teachers," Phillips said. "They went on strike. They want 4 percent raises; they do not want to be involved in paying for their pensions; they want all of the free health insurance. I mean, it is because Illinois has been a state that is continually giving because we have been under democratic rule and democratic (governing), and nobody has bothered to push back. Nobody has said enough is enough.”

Last year, Rauner also vetoed Senate Bill 1229, which was nearly identical to HB 580.