Daley Lays Off 431 City Workers After Unions Don't Blink

UPDATE

431 city workers were laid off Wednesday after two unions and the Daley administration were unable to reach an agreement by a 5 p.m. deadline, the Tribune reports:

"Unfortunately, it's clear there won't be an agreement," said mayoral spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard. "Today is their last day on the city payroll."

Daley had left the door open at a morning press conference, extending an earlier midnight deadline to Wednesday evening, but he spoke with finality at a lunchtime speech, Chicago Public Radio reports:

I did not want this to happen. And it could have been avoided, and I firmly believe that. I feel very sorry for them and their families. Because at 5 o'clock - 4:30 - they're off.

Listen to Daley's entire address here.

UPDATE

Mayor Daley said Wednesday that layoffs will begin for 431 unionized city workers if their unions can't agree to revised contracts by the end of today.

"I didn't want to lay anyone off," Daley said at a news conference. But "it's better to have a job and give up something than to have no job at all."

Daley praised the dozens of city unions that agreed to contract concessions to preserve jobs and held out faint hope that the two holdouts-- Teamsters Union 726 and AFSCME Council 31-- would reconsider before the layoffs become effective later today.

Story continues below

An AFSCME spokesman told Chicago Public Radio that the union has presented alternative plans to the city and remains open to negotiating.

Daley also disputed a layoff-related story in Wednesday's Sun-Times as "completely false." City Hall reporter Fran Spielman wrote that the Department of Streets and Sanitation, which avoided 323 threatened layoffs, will reverse a longstanding policy of "progressive discipline."

Byrne's decision to wipe the slate clean in a department at the center of the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals would turn that time-honored policy on its ear.

First-time offenders with otherwise clean disciplinary records would apparently be treated the same as chronic offenders.

Brandishing a copy of the article, Daley dismissed the reporting as completely inaccurate, though he never offered any specific contradictory evidence.

UPDATE

The midnight deadline passed for the two holdout unions to agree to concessions without any resolution. Mayor Daley is scheduled to discuss the pending layoffs and any other potential consequences Wednesday morning around 10:30 a.m. Check back for details.

* * * *
With a midnight deadline looming and hundreds of city jobs on the line, one more Chicago employees union has blinked while two others continue their stare-down with Mayor Daley.

Laborers Union Local 1001 signed a two-year deal Monday agreeing to the same cost-cutting measures that 40 other unions have also accepted, such as 24 unpaid furlough days a year, comp time instead of overtime pay, and unpaid city holidays.

"To keep the 300 people working, it's something we'll have to live with," Laborers Local 1001 secretary-treasurer Lou Phillips told the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to the Sun-Times, Daley was prepared to reduce 100 more garbage collection crews from two laborers per truck to one if a deal with the union could not be reached.

A spokesman for the two hold-out unions, Teamsters Union 726 and AFSCME Council 31, told Chicago Public Radio that its members are some of the lowest paid city workers and can't afford to take furlough days.

AFSCME leaders on Monday released a letter they sent to Daley asking the mayor for an agreement that doesn't include laying off city workers.

"Despite the mayor's claims to the contrary, his staff has refused -- including as recently as a few hours ago -- to meet with the union to discuss any alternative to layoffs since AFSCME members voted overwhelmingly to reject the Mayor's initial demand that they take 46 unpaid days over the next two years, equal to a 10 percent pay cut," read the letter from Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31.

At a Tuesday press conference Daley, flanked by labor leaders, urged the hold-outs to concede or face 431 layoffs Wednesday.

"If we do not come to an agreement by midnight, then tomorrow will be the last day on the city payroll for 431 employees represented by the Teamsters and AFSCME," the Tribune reports.

 

Comments

[47th]

The "Green Mayor" has become the "Layoff Mayor"!

[peanut2005]

Can WE lay off Daley and his posse????

[BVictor1]

The unions should have agreed

[Susan Chronister]

I agree... the unions should have agreed! I don't feel sorry for these workers who got laid off...they should have been happy to still have a job! So they had to take furlow days and no overtime...BOOHOO. In these times, they are just being greedy! Be happy to be working...be happy you have a job. Welcome to OUR WORLD. Now you can join the rest of us and try to make it. GET OVER IT!

[Bude]

Save that money for your Olympics, Dick.

[mergina]

so, all of those HARD WORKING (COUGH COUGH) city workers are unwilling to take a small pay cut so these people do not need to be let go huh? Welcome to Shikahgoh!

[themodernleader]

Unions, including public unions, care for the members with big salaries. The small fish can be fired. Who cares. but the union members of big salaries must persist with thse big salaries and birth to death benefits. Unfairness within an organization demoralizes and corrupts the membership.

[crookedcountyillinois]

If we can afford to cut 431 City Workers, then isn't it frivilous and irresponsible that we ever hired 'em to begin with? After all, it is public money.

[Eeesh]

How about cutting the staffs, perks, drivers and expenses in 1/2 of the aldermen first?

[Eeesh]

meant to write,,, cut all of these aldermanic benefits in half

[NoExpertsNeeded]

Job loss...Been there. Done that. Yep, still 'there'. My heart goes out to those still getting 'pinked'.

For me, losing my job was one of those defining moments in life. I knew I had a choice: I could choose to lose my way (my mind) or rise to the challenge and follow what my Spirit tells me to do, always remembering that I am more than a statistic on the news.

I'll share with you what I was told the day I got "set free" (laid off) from my job: "This is a new chapter in your life. WRITE ONE HELL OF A CHAPTER!" And I did just that! Will you?

So if you just need a break from the doom and gloom, let me send you a FREE book download...(no strings attached, really!)

Sign up now: www.noexpertsneeded.com

Yes, times are tough, but it doesn't mean that we can't still give back to one another. This is simply my way...

take care,
Louise Lewis, author
No Experts Needed: The Meaning of Life According to You!
www.noexpertsneeded.com

[serpentinista]

As Daley asks workers to work without pay, has he at any point offered to work for $0? He and other city executives should be offering to work for no pay in solidarity with the rest of the city employees.

[ekoorb]

He is not asking them to work without pay. He is asking them to take unpaid time off. The Chicago Sun Times reports today that 30% of Streets & Sanitation workers are out on any given day, so apparently they could operate with far fewer resources if they were better managed. Daley and his non-union staff have taken unpaid furlough days.