Daley to police union: Get real

Chicago taxpayers have been "very good to public employees," Mayor Daley said Tuesday, advising police officers preparing to embarrass him by picketing when the International Olympic Committee comes to town this week to enter "the real world."

"I just dedicated a brand new police station. No other city is building police stations….We spend an enormous amount of money. We're buying new police cars now. We have no apologies to make to any public employee," Daley said.

"The taxpayers have been very, very good to public employees….Your neighbor-he or she is out of a job. Their son and daughter graduated from college [and] cannot get a job…This is a very tough economic time and public employees have to understand that. This is the real world."

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue said he knows of nobody who "lives more in the real world" than police officers do.

"Of all public city employees, police are the most mindful of tough economic times. We deal with it day- in-and-day-out. When times are tough, crime rises. When times are tough, there are more domestic disputes. When times are tough, we're there to respond," Donahue said.

"If the mayor's concern is that we're not being realistic, instead of taking things off the table, put things on the table we can discuss and negotiate in fairness."

The Chicago Sun-Times reported March 22 that Daley has pulled off the table an offer to raise the salaries of Chicago Police officers by 16.1 percent over five years because of nosediving tax revenues.

The decision to withdraw a contract offer the FOP deemed inadequate to begin with further depressed police morale that was already so low, the union took a no-confidence vote in Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis, citing everything from manpower and vehicle shortages to low morale and a lack of management support.

The mayor's response to the no-confidence vote further infuriated union leaders. Daley defended the career FBI agent he handpicked to be Chicago's $310,000-a-year police superintendent.

"He's done a tremendous job. He's a very good, honest superintendent. He has a difficult job. All superintendents have. He had great experience, great judgement," the mayor said.

"When you're an outsider, people look at you as an outsider. He understands that."

Thursday's 11 a.m. protest by off-duty police officers coincides with the arrival of IOC members conducting their final site visit in Chicago. But, Donahue said the union's goal is not to turn Daley's Olympic dream into a nightmare.

"The timing of the informational picketing is based on the timing of their actions--so the mayor and the superintendent and the City Council get the message that there's a level of frustration over their actions," Donahue said.