Cook County Court Workers Picket After Going 18 Months Without Contract

(CBS) -- Over 100 public defenders, probation officers and court personnel marched and chanted in the rain outside criminal court saying 18 months is long enough to wait for a contract with Cook County.

AFSCME Local 3315 president Presita West said members want a wage hike and stable health and pension benefits. She said the membership does not want a deal like the one with city laborers and office workers which called for an increase in costs and decrease in pension benefits.

Marching in the rain with her six-year-old granddaughter McKinsey was probation officer Tiffany Stevenson, who said this was a good way to show exactly how democracy works.

The Union held coordinated informational pickets and demonstrations outside other Cook County court houses and office buildings asking for a new contract with stable benefits and a fair wage increase, though they weren't at this time ready to publicly discuss numbers.