30,000 AFSCME members are voting to authorize a strike in Illinois. AFSCME also says it's headed back to court to oppose an action by the Illinois Attorney General.

That motion from Democratic AG Lisa Madigan would dissolve a preliminary injunction won by AFSCME that makes sure state workers keep getting paid despite the state budget standoff.

Governor Bruce Rauner is refusing to let a budget pass unless his attacks on labor union rights are part of the budget package. AFSCME has repeatedly urged Gov. Rauner to end "his insistence that enactment of a state budget must be tied to his personal political agenda of weakening workers' rights."

The strike authorization vote will continue for three weeks.

AFSCME says Illinois state employees don't want a strike and/or a shutdown of state government. But AFSCME says its members "are determined to resist the governor’s efforts to impose his terms—which would set thousands of working families back for many years to come" according to AFSCME.