ST. LOUIS — A judge on Monday put on hold Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to lay off some 2,600 state workers, ruling that the state and a union that represents many of the workers should seek arbitration on the matter.
ST. LOUIS A judge on Monday put on hold Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s plans to lay off some 2,600 state workers, ruling that the state and a union that represents many of the workers should seek arbitration on the matter.
Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 1,000 prison workers who would be among those laid off, sued in southern Illinois’ Johnson County last month to block the cuts, saying the impact of the layoffs should first be assessed and that the cuts would make it unsafe for remaining prison workers.
Judge Todd Lambert wrote that the union "met its burden to prove irreparable harm that would be suffered by employees if the planned layoffs were implemented" before arbitration or other efforts to resolve the differences.
Quinn has argued that the layoffs, which were to begin as soon as Wednesday, are needed to help balance the state budget. He is seeking to cut about 1,000 of the Illinois prison system’s roughly 11,000 jobs.
Henry Bayer, the union’s executive director, said in a statement Monday that while the union welcomed the legal victory, "AFSCME calls on Gov. Quinn to use this opportunity to revisit his ill-advised layoff plan."
"The real root of this issue is the state budget crisis," Bayer said. "The governor and every state lawmaker should commit to passing comprehensive tax reform that raises adequate revenue to fund essential services and preserve the jobs of those who provide them."
The lawsuit named the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, the Department of Corrections and their chiefs defendants represented in the lawsuit by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Robyn Ziegler, an Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman, said she could not comment about the ruling until after her office had reviewed it.
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