Pat Quinn’s a union man — until he’s not

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Updated: July 8, 2011 2:17AM

Maybe now would be a good time for Gov. Pat Quinn to pay off his bet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. After all, according to AFSCME, they’re practically soul brothers these days.

Quinn bet Walker way back in January that the Bears would beat the Packers for the NFC Championship title. The Bears lost, and Quinn was supposed to volunteer at a Wisconsin food bank wearing a Packers jersey.

But Quinn canceled his scheduled Milwaukee appearance after Walker attempted to strip his state’s public employee unions of their collective-bargaining rights and the state exploded with political rage.

Tens of thousands of protesters descended on the Cheesehead Statehouse and the entire Wisconsin Senate Democratic caucus fled to Illinois in an attempt to halt Walker’s agenda. Quinn firmly declared his solidarity with the teeming northern masses, welcomed the fleeing Democrats with open arms and declared Walker an anti-union heathen.

Quinn made some good points during Wisconsin’s troubles. For instance, Quinn was proud of being the first governor in Illinois history to persuade AFSCME to reopen its contract and defer its members’ pay raises. That was no mean feat, even if Quinn did have to agree to no layoffs and no facility closures.

AFSCME, which represents state workers, is about the most obstinate group of hardheads you’ll ever meet. They take their contracts seriously, and they’ve never budged before. Even so, Quinn cut them a decent deal last summer and the union endorsed his re-election soon after.

Quinn has since insisted that his way of doing things was far superior to those heartless right-wingers to our north. They should talk to the unions and work things out, he said. Unions are reasonable if you treat them with respect and dignity.

The problem with kicking the budgetary can down the road is that the bills eventually come due.

AFSCME’s pay raises were deferred to July 1 of this year, and the General Assembly didn’t appropriate enough money to cover all of them.

Rather than slash much-needed programs, the Legislature cut personnel costs. In the end, the budget shorted payrolls for 14 state agencies.

But Quinn had boxed himself in. He couldn’t lay off anybody or close a state facility because he had given AFSCME his word. His staff says he couldn’t move money around within agencies to pay for the raises without harming crucial programs. He couldn’t veto the budget, because then the Republican minority would have a seat at the table, and they would demand even more cuts and wreak loads of havoc.

Ignoring the Legislature’s mandated payroll cuts and handing out the promised raises anyway could result in a minor fiscal crisis next year if he couldn’t persuade the General Assembly to increase the appropriations.

So, the governor decided to reinterpret an old state law that was originally written to protect union contracts in a way that allowed him to break AFSCME’s current state contract.

Without first sitting down and attempting to cut a deal with the union, Quinn unilaterally declared there would be no pay raises for those 14 agencies.

AFSCME was furious with Quinn’s move and the way he handled it. The union’s executive director blustered that Quinn was actually worse than Walker ever was.

Gov. Walker can be excused for experiencing a hugely satisfying rush of schadenfreude right about now.

If you can’t honor your union contracts, Gov. Quinn, you can at least honor your bet.

Go get yourself a Packers jersey, swallow hard, and take off for the Great White North.