Mayor Daley to meet with labor goups in attempt to avert layoffs

Mayor Daley will hold a face-to-face meeting with organized labor on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to avert 1,100 layoffs -- by convincing union members to take 16 days off without pay and comp time instead of cash overtime.

The City Hall meeting was originally scheduled for today, but had to be canceled because the mayor is battling the flu.

Mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard said Daley hopes to recover in time to make an impassioned plea on Wednesday.

The last thing he wants to do is to drive the Chicago area unemployment rate even higher — and reduce city services — by putting 1,100 city employees out of work, she said.

“It’s worth a try. It’s one last-ditch effort to find a resolution, so he doesn’t even have to cause people anxiety by sending out layoff notices,” she said.

But, Heard reiterated what the mayor has been saying for weeks: With city revenues continuing their steady decline, Daley is in no position to offer union leaders a two-year, no-layoff guarantee in exchange for cost-cutting concessions.

“How on earth could you, given the uncertainty of the economy? It wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s printed on,” she said.

Last week, Daley was still holding out hope for an 11th-hour agreement with organized labor.

"Furlough days [are] ... so we can keep people employed. You don't want to see anybody laid off. I don't care who you are. They have families. They have mortgages," he said.

Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon could not be reached for comment. Last week, Gannon rejected Daley’s demand for yet another round of cost-saving concessions after the mayor refused to go along with his demand for a no-layoff guarantee.

Meanwhile, Service Employees Union Local 73 warned that Daley plans to compromise public safety by laying off 293 civilian employees of the Chicago Police Department and forcing uniformed officers to do civilian jobs.

Employees targeted for layoff July 1 include 186 crossing guards, 67 detention aides and 40 traffic control aides, the union said.

“Detention aides work in lock-ups. They’ll be replaced by police for sure. Crossing guards are replaced by police now if they’re absent. Layoffs will mean more of that. And traffic control aides would probably be replaced by uniformed officers,” said Matt Brandon, secretary-treasurer of Local 73.

“When you take police away from enforcement, it hurts the public. It means less police on patrol in areas where crime is high. Instead of layoffs, they should use some of the $1.2 billion rainy day fund to offset” a threatened, $300 million year-end shortfall.

Heard insisted that the layoffs of civilian police employees were not set in stone. And even if police officers end up doing some of the work, the city will make every effort to transfer police officers assigned to desk jobs, instead of yanking officers off the streets, she said.