Mayor Daley alters furlough plan

The higher the salary, the more unpaid days workers off

Under pressure from the City Council, Mayor Daley has agreed to revise his mandatory furlough plan to include a sliding scale: the higher the salary, the more unpaid days off.

A meeting today of the City Council's Finance Committee, called to give quick approval to the furlough plan, was abruptly adjourned at the mayor's request. A full City Council vote was also put off indefinitely.

Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) led the charge for a sliding scale.

"It would have been very difficult to pass without it," Cochran said. "When you get to a certain level of income, the impact should be greater. We have to take that into consideration for those on the lower end of the pay scale.

If this helps move that agenda forward, it just shows the mayor's ability to compromise and get things done." Daley's original plan called for 3,600 non-union city employees to take 14 days off without pay by Dec. 31 and to be given comp time instead of cash for overtime. That was meant also to pressure organized labor to do the same in order to plug a projected $300 million year-end budget gap.

But the plan ran into City Council opposition.

Some aldermen demanded a sliding scale of unpaid days that exempts those paid less than $35,000 a year. The higher the salary, the greater the sacrifice.

Others wanted to declare an "emergency" that would allow the city to void all of its contracts ‹ with unions as well as private vendors ‹ instead of hoping that organized labor volunteers to share the pain.

And others questioned the projected $300 million year-end shortfall that triggered the need for more employee givebacks. That figure comes from the same department heads who insisted that revenue estimates that have now fallen woefully short were "conservative." Mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard said Daley is now open to a sliding scale, and top mayoral aides are attempting to hammer out the details.

Earlier this week, the mayor defended the furlough plan and appeared to slam the door on blanket exemptions ‹ even for the those lowest on the totem pole.

"The police want to be excluded. The Fire Department wants to be excluded.

People under $35,000 or $40,000 want to be excluded. People with families want to be excluded. So, exclude 'em all, and it has no effect then," said Daley, who will once again lead by example in taking furlough days. "How 'bout people with four or five children? How 'bout taking care of your parents? You'll exclude everyone. If you do that, then you have no one participating. Then, you're back in your financial problems." The non-union furlough days are designed to pressure on organized labor to do the same to avoid massive layoffs.

But union leaders are continuing to hold out for a two-year, no-layoff guarantee that Daley says he cannot give.

The clock is ticking. More than 1,100 layoff notices will be going out by June 1 ‹ none to sworn police officers and firefighters ‹ unless their unions agree to take 14 days off without pay and comp time instead of cash overtime.

The mayor is still holding out hope for an 11th-hour agreement.

"If everybody pitches in, you won't lay anyone off. Simple as that," Daley said Tuesday.

"Do you want to save anybody's job or do you want to lay them off. When you lay someone off, that means they're not coming back."