SPRINGFIELD - Prison guards and other unionized state workers began voting this week on a contract proposal expected to give them raises totaling more than 15 percent over the next four years.

Although details of the proposed agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees haven't been released, union members and legislative sources familiar with the pact said it includes annual wage hikes averaging 3.8 percent.

The raises are apparently staggered over the life of the four-year contract and could offset higher health insurance costs being pushed by the state.

The total cost to taxpayers for the added pay was not available Wednesday.

"I'm not able to discuss any specifics of this tentative agreement," said Brian Williamsen, spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall said details won't be released until the middle of next week.

The tentative deal between the state and the 35,000 workers covered by the contract was announced earlier this month.

Along with the pay increase, the agreement outlines health insurance costs and provisions for layoffs, job recalls and overtime pay.

If ratified, the average annual salary increase outpaces what many other state workers are expected to get this year. The University of Illinois, for example, recently announced faculty would receive raises averaging 2 percent, while other workers would see 1.5 percent increases this year.

Illinois State University President Al Bowman recently announced the institution was setting aside money that would translate into merit-based wage hikes for faculty and staff members of 3 percent.

Negotiations between AFSCME and the state had been in a stalemate for months. The union agreed to work under terms of a four-year contract that expired June 30.

A federal mediator was called in after talks bogged down over health insurance costs. The union said the state wanted AFSCME workers to pay more for health insurance premiums, co-payments and pensions without offering salary increases as compensation.

The agreement, if ratified by rank-and-file workers, follows a 2004 contract AFSCME once touted as "the best multiyear wage settlement negotiated for state employees anywhere in the country."

Check the Thursday Herald & Review for a complete story.