Over 1,500 city employees to get layoff notices today
CITY HALL | After union leader boycott, Daley warns of job cuts unless labor sacrifices
More than 1,500 city employees -- 400 more than anticipated -- will receive layoff notices today, one day after union leaders boycotted Mayor Daley's 11th-hour appeal for shared sacrifice over job cuts.
Uniformed police officers and firefighters will again be exempt from the July 15 cuts, forcing the ax to fall heavily on two housekeeping departments: Streets and Sanitation (323) and Water Management (295).
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
Barring a last-minute agreement with organized labor, 1,504 layoffs will take effect July 15, saving the city $34 million this year and $76 million annually. Twenty-eight city departments will be affected. Here is a breakdown:
Streets and Sanitation: 323
Police Department civilians: 296
Water Management: 295
Aviation: 147
Public libraries: 120
Fleet Management: 79
Transportation: 62
General Services: 46
Emergency Management: 34
Revenue: 16
City Clerk: 12
Health: 11
Fire: 11
Law: 10
Other departments: 42
Streets and San will shrink 100 more garbage collection crews to one laborer on a truck, instead of two. That means 235 of the city's 340 routes will have smaller crews that, aldermen complain, slow pickups.
Weekend basket pickups will be eliminated on neighborhood commercial strips. Tree trimming, rodent control and street light repairs will suffer.
"If the garbage doesn't get picked up in a timely fashion, you're talking about all kinds of problems. And that is exactly what is going to happen when you don't have two men on a truck," said Ald. Ed Smith (28th), who was briefed on the cuts.
"Commercial strips are gonna be filthy. When the baskets get full, people are just gonna throw their debris on the ground. That blows everywhere. It stops up sewers. And it looks bad."
Water Management will be forced to slow its response to water main breaks, open hydrants, and street, viaduct and basement flooding heading into summer storm season.
The Aviation Department will lose 147 employees by privatizing O'Hare Airport custodians and window-washers. The Chicago Public Library will cut 120 employees.
The 34 job cuts at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications could mean slower traffic flow in the Loop. And with 296 fewer police civilians, fewer intersections will get crossing guards, and sworn officers will be forced to fill in for detention aides.
Daley characterized this week's City Hall meeting boycotted by union leaders as the "last opportunity" to stave off layoff notices.
But he's hoping the harsh reality of pink slips -- along with a letter from the mayor -- will convince labor to swallow the concept of shared sacrifice.
Sources said union leaders have been asked to consider a painful menu of concessions, including reduced workweeks or schedules, furlough days, unpaid holidays, pay cuts, delayed prevailing wage increases, comp time for overtime, increased health care contributions and reduced sick-time accrual.
"I understand that, in these very difficult economic times, people do not want to take days off without pay or make any other concessions. But unless everyone pitches in by giving something, some of our colleagues are going to lose their jobs and I don't want that to happen," the mayor told reporters.
Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon refused to comment on the cuts outlined Thursday.