Hammer out a new union deal now

Once again, Gov. Pat Quinn and legislators have backed themselves into a corner and we all are expected to pay to rescue them.

Here’s the history on the latest wrinkle with state finances: Back last September, when Democrat Quinn was seeking campaign help of the state chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, he cut a deal with union leaders. He promised none of their workers would be laid off nor would state buildings be shuttered nor services cut until June 2012 if the union approved at least $50 million in savings. This spring, legislators sent Quinn a budget that cut most state agency salaries by 5 percent. Quinn rewrote the budget to cut $75 million by canceling 2-percent raises for 30,000 state workers. He also canceled more raises set to take effect early next year.

Of course, union officers were outraged and appealed to an arbitrator, who ruled this week that Quinn cannot skip raises agreed to in a contract. Quinn vowed to appeal to a state court.

Illinois could very well be heading to a Wisconsin- or Ohio-like public clash of political and labor titans here if cooler heads don’t prevail.

As it stands, we, the already-cash-strapped taxpayers are being launched headlong into a situation where we will have to fork up untold dollars to pay a bunch of lawyers to fight this out in court. As it stands, 90 percent or more of the state workforce is unionized. As it stands, despite a 67 percent, postelection personal income tax hike, Illinois is a deadbeat, regularly not paying $4 billion owed to social service agencies, schools, businesses and more. As it stands, Quinn has wanted legislators to give him power to borrow another $8.7 billion, as if more borrowing is the way to dig out of this mess that would be called bankruptcy if it were any private entity. Legislators were right not to borrow more and to send Quinn a budget that doesn’t spend more than the state collects. The numbers still aren’t adding up, so it’s time for all parties to stop digging in and start facing the facts.

We’ve said in this space many times that Quinn was wrong to commit to no layoffs. We empathize with state workers who come to work each day and do their best, but the state cannot continue down this path. It cannot afford all the raises with no layoffs and no cuts in services. Borrowing more is wrongheaded and taxpayers already are paying a huge bill for the spending misdeeds of the past many years. We urge AFSCME and Quinn to end their costly court threats. We ask that they and legislative leaders finally face some harsh realities and hammer out a reasonable deal. Sit down in good faith now. Figure out a plan that pays for the most urgent services at a rate that doesn’t require more money than the state can afford. That might include layoffs, it might include foregoing raises. It might include shutting down some services and freezing spending. Sit down and work it out. Please.