Cook County Public Defenders Blog

In light of the letter from Todd Stroger’s office last week notifying us of layoffs, 4-day work weeks, and furloughs, the Public Defender Union Executive Board met today (February 5). While our efforts to change the direction of the county budget have been ongoing (including appearances at the most recent public hearings), we planned further action today. That action includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Litigating a grievance asserting that the Notice from Stroger’s office regarding 4-day work weeks and furloughs is a violation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement with the County. A hearing is scheduled on this grievance tomorrow (February 6) at the County Building. Members of the Executive Board will be present for this hearing. Should it be necessary, we will seek expedited arbitration on this matter. Download Grievance Form Here

2. Members of the Executive Board have been conducting ongoing face-to-face meetings recently with County Commissioners to specifically discuss the effects that layoffs/4-day work weeks/furloughs would have on the Public Defender Office. These meetings continue this week.

3. We are currently researching the legal effects of increasing our caseloads (through layoffs) while simultaneously reducing our available work hours (through 4-day work weeks and furloughs). This excessive caseload situation is troubling, and we will have a plan to address this in short order.

4. We are attempting to rally the legal community to get involved in our cause. Besides ongoing consultation with numerous legal organizations, we will be placing a call to action in at least one local publication seeking support. Stay tuned for further developments here.

5. We ask that all assistant public defenders approach the judges we appear before and inform them of the proposed cuts to our office, and the likely effects the cuts will have in the courtroom. Those effects include unavailability for 5-day trials, reduced staffing during all court time, higher caseloads leading to longer disposition times, less support staff and investigators leading to longer disposition times, and other effects.

6. We ask that all assistant public defenders continue to get the message out to County Commissioners and others about the disastrous effects the cuts will have on our Office and the criminal justice system. You can download an updated version of our talking points here. Download Talking Points Here.

In addition to this formal plan for action, the Executive Board has been busy fighting the Stroger budget plan in other ways: we have pressed our case with Management in a Labor-Management meeting, responded in the media to the layoff/furlough notice, pressed our specific issues with AFSCME Council 31, organized speakers for the public hearings, cold-called County Commissioners, and updated this site with as much information as possible.

In the last week alone, our website was visited almost 1000 times by those of you interested in updated information. We will continue to provide information as we learn it.

Our Office received notice from President Todd Stroger that he plans on attempting to impose 4-day work weeks and 10-day furloughs.  The Notice states the following in pertinent part:

As you know, Cook County is facing a severe budget crisis.  I am writing to inform A.F.S.C.M.E. Local 3315 that Cook County will take the following actions that will effect members of A.F.S.C.M.E. Local 3315 employed in the Office of the Public Defender:
1.  Effective March 5, 2007, no work week of any assistant public defender will exceed four (4) days, and ten (10) of the workweeks during the period between March 5, 2007, and the end of 2007will not exceed three (3) days.
 2.  Effective March 5, 2007, the salary of each assistant public defender will be reduced proportionately to reflect the reduced workweeks.
  3.  Effective as of the close of business on March 16, 2007, Cook County will lay off thirty-six assistant public defenders.
 

What does this mean?  It means that Todd Stroger has notified us of his intent to impose forced dead time that amounts to a 24% reduction in pay, in addition to the layoffs.

What will be done about this?  We have a Collective Bargaining Agreement that sets our wages and benefits during the duration of the contract.  The notice from Todd Stroger evinces a clear intent to violate our CBA.  AFSCME has already contacted the law firm that handles our labor litigation, and we will be working with them to determine the best legal route to take here.  We have called a meeting of the Union Executive Board for Monday.  We will keep you abreast of any new developments, and we will post our plan to combat this by early next week.

What should you do?  Call Stroger or your commissioner and tell them about how the above cuts are going to bring the criminal justice system to a halt and how the taxpayers will pay more in the long run.