An administrative law judge says Southern Illinois University officials in Carbondale bargained in bad faith with unions and owes 1,500 current and former employees $1.9 million in back pay.
WSIU Radio (http://bit.ly/1no1Bba ) reports the university says it respectfully disagrees with Colleen Harvey's ruling and is weighing its legal options.
As an administrative judge with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, Harvey concluded that SIU illegally pushed three campus unions to the point of impasse. The back pay Harvey ordered involves four furlough days that employees were forced to take in 2011.
The SIU administrators involved in 2010 and 2011 contract talks with the unions no longer are with the university. The university now has a new president and Carbondale chancellor and provost.
The unions call Harvey's ruling vindication.
