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County employees press board on living wage and health benefits as bargaining continues
Summary
Multiple county employees and AFSCME representatives urged the Champaign County Board to adopt a living wage and expand affordable health coverage; the board’s labor committee reported a comprehensive proposal offered to AFSCME.
Several Champaign County employees and union representatives used the public‑comment period to press the county board to adopt living wages and affordable health benefits as bargaining with AFSCME continued.
Jason Benda, a facilities custodian, cited the county’s own 2002 living‑wage resolution (Resolution 4503) and said the living‑wage calculation in that document would now be $15.46 per hour. “We are advertising a position for a full‑time benefited employee whose 52‑week cash compensation is less than the poverty guideline that this board has established as the basis for a living wage,” Benda said. Several other AFSCME members, including Natalie Nagel (AFSCME staff representative), Cece Phillips (circuit clerk’s office) and Shanae Weishardt (state’s attorney’s office) described long service, multiple jobs and unaffordable health‑care costs.
AFSCME representatives said bargaining has been ongoing and that employees remain frustrated about health‑care affordability and wages. “Your employees deserve to feel like a priority because this county can't run without them,” Natalie Nagel said.
In the communications section of the meeting the board’s labor committee chair outlined a proposal the committee delivered to AFSCME in closed session. The package, as summarized by the chair, would increase the county’s contribution toward dependent health insurance premiums, add a floating holiday, expand the AFSCME salary scale (with proposed percentage increases and step changes), provide a 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025), and expand paid parental leave from two weeks to 12 weeks. The chair said the package was “farther than most expected” and that bargaining would continue.
Speakers asked the board why operating decisions in the Bennett Center had led to additional retrofit costs and questioned whether the county prioritized employees when finding funds for projects but not for wages and benefits. Several long‑service employees described working additional jobs to cover basic needs.
No final board vote on bargaining terms occurred at the April 24 meeting; the transcript records public comment and a committee‑level proposal described in communications but no formal contract adoption.
