CHICAGO (AP) – The Quinn administration has terminated the contract between the state of Illinois and its largest public employee union.

Assistant Budget Director Abdon Pallasch said Tuesday that after 11 months of bargaining, state officials informed leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees there will be no additional extensions of a contract covering 40,000 workers that expired in June.

Pallasch says after extending the contract three times, union negotiators haven’t made proposals dealing with retirement health care and continues to seek a pay raise despite the state’s troubled finances.

Calling the administration’s action unprecedented, AFSCME executive director Henry Bayer says the action will make reaching a contract more difficult.

Both sides agree the action will have no immediate effect because the contract terms remain in effect.

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