University employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 will join a rally today at the statehouse in Springfield.

Supporters of AFSCME from all over Illinois will hold the “Rock the Capital Rally” to precede a lobbying effort by the union’s representatives, said Rick Prince, AFSCME Council 31 staff representative.

AFSCME, which represents clerical-technical, food and building service workers at Eastern, plans to seek support from individual legislators on a bill for more funds and a restoration of funds cut by the state.

“Our purpose for being there is to create public awareness of the need for a supplemental appropriation to rescue failing state services,” Mark Samuels, AFSCME Council 31 public affairs director, wrote in a press release.

Prince said legislators’ cutbacks and layoffs of state employees in the interest of the state’s tight budget has harmed every human service agency in Illinois.

“We’ll have representatives from all over the state to lobby for appropriations to restore funding cuts and put back money into accounts where (the state) laid people off,” Prince said.

Between 2,000 to 3,000 people are expected to rally at the statehouse, Prince said.

Matt Pederson, president of AFSCME local 981 and building services worker, said he expects a few Eastern employees to attend the rally.

Eastern’s AFSCME-represented clerical-technical workers are currently negotiating wages and parity with the administration.

AFSCME has been meeting with Bob Wayland, Eastern’s administration’s chief negotiator for all labor agreements, who said the university cannot afford wage increases for any employees.

However, Pederson said today’s rally is a statewide effort to get back funding for all 79,000 workers AFSCME covers, including prison personnel and mental health service employees.

“Any funding we could get back from the state is good,” Pederson said. “We’re not really expecting to get back money for universities.”