By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012
     Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Billik has issued the ruling that Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration must pay $60 million in wage increases state workers — wages that were negotiated last year to thousands of state employees.
     While the decision is not an unconditional victory, AFSCME is calling it a very positive one for union members.
     Judge Billik affirmed his earlier ruling that the state can’t pay what was not appropriated. However, he rejected the state’s basic argument of “condition precedent,” that is, that the state is not obligated to ever pay the money if it had not been appropriated. Rather, he said that the state had entered into a contract with the union and the obligation to meet its terms remains.
     This means that the state must pay what it can now. For appropriation lines without enough money, the state should pay what it can to each employee.
     Most importantly for the union, the judge ruled that the state’s legal obligation to pay remains until employees have been fully paid. Once employees are paid from the funds available now, any money still owed to them must eventually be paid from the Back Wage Fund at 7 percent interest.
     The judge read his decision in open court and the information now available is based on the attorneys’ notes. Once the written transcript is issued, further details will be provided to union members.
     AFSCME is calling on the Quinn Administration to accept the court’s ruling and begin paying employees the money they are owed. The state has already wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in legal maneuvers designed to prevent employees from receiving the monies they are owed.
     AFSCME says it would be senseless and unethical to continue to pursue this course by appealing the judge’s decision.
     An AFSCME statement on their web site read “From the first moment that Governor Quinn took the unprecedented step of withholding a negotiated pay raise, AFSCME made clear that the union would fight on every front for as long as it takes to ensure that members get the monies they are owed. The court’s ruling yesterday is a critically important step forward in that battle.”
     It is expected that the Quinn administration will appeal the ruling, and it’s unclear at this time how much the state will turn over to union members if the ruling stands.

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.