The local chapter of the American Federation for State, County and Municipal Employees that includes Eastern employees has not been a part the ongoing state negotiations that led the union to instruct its members to prepare for a strike.

AFSCME recently sent a memo telling its members to prepare for a strike because of negotiations with the Quinn administration that would eliminate pay increases and increase healthcare premiums.

Peggy Kuhn, a building service worker and president of AFSCME Local 981, said the local union already has contracts in place, and the state negotiations do not affect them.

“We are kind of different because we do work for a university,” she said. “Because we’re in a civil service so we are separate from state bargaining itself.”

Local 981 Unit A and Unit B employees signed a four-year contract with the university Sept.15, 2011 that lasts until Sept. 14, 2015, and the Local 981 clerical-technical unit signed a three-year contract that lasts from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2015.

Unit A employees include foodservice sanitation workers, cooks and cook helpers.

Unit B employees include building service workers, locker room attendants, mail messengers, maintenance workers, building service sub-foremen, electricians, pest controllers, building mechanics, storekeepers and route drivers.

Clerical-technical employees include office workers.

Kuhn said the two divisions have separate contracts because their employees deal with specific situations, but they are both under the same union and the same president.

Kuhn said she was nominated to fill in as president of Local 981 until the union can have elections to replace Tony Craig, the former president who resigned last month.

Kuhn said she has been a member of AFSCME for 21 years.

She said the state negotiations are affecting high school teachers who are members of AFSCME.

“They’re the ones having the problem right now because they have a contract with the state,” she said. “Our contract is already been settled, and we’re OK with our contract.”

Kuhn said Eastern’s AFSCME employees typically do not have many problems with the contract, and when problems arise they can usually be settled locally in a meeting.

She said the state negotiations are also affecting AFSCME employees in places like the unemployment offices, human services, prisons and park districts.

She said these issues have led to the closings of seven unemployment offices, including the office in Mattoon, which will close in March.

“My daughter will be without a job because the state is broke and the only way they can see to fix anything is to start cutting workers out,” she said.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].