3 city unions holding out on deal to avert layoffs
Source: Proposed deal would include 24 unpaid furlough days through June 30, 2011
Three hold-out unions with 650 layoffs hanging in the balance —Teamster 726, Laborers 1001 and AFSMCE Council 31—are standing in the way of a two-year deal on cost-cutting concessions to save the jobs of 1,504 city of Chicago employees targeted for layoffs.
Mayor Daley refused today to say what he would do if the unions don't get on board by the July 15 deadline.
(Sun-Times photos)
But Daley hinted strongly that layoffs would be confined to those three union locals.
“The city must take the appropriate action on the 15th," Daley said at a City Hall news conference. "We think, in the long run, on the 15th, all of 'em will be there. I firmly believe that. I pray for it. I hope they are…because this will not be good for their membership."
And what happens if the train leaves the station on July 15 and the Teamsters, Laborers and AFSCME aren't on it? Neither Daley nor the two labor powerhouses at his side — Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon and Tom Villanova, president of the Chicago and Cook County Building & Construction Trades Council — would entertain the thought.
“Well, we’re all gonna be on it. We’re gonna go from locomotive to caboose. Dennis and I and Tom—we’re gonna have everybody on that train,” Daley said.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Gannon said.
Villanova added, “I have the privilege of representing 100,000 construction workers. We have up to 30 percent unemployment in some of our locals. There’s nowhere to go for these 1,504 people if they were to get laid off. We’re gonna ruin 1,504 families.”
Sources said the two-year agreement on the table includes:
• 24 unpaid furlough days through June 30, 2011,
• Converting all city holidays — nine for hourly employees and 12 for those with monthly salaries— to unpaid days and substituting comp time for cash overtime.
In a written statement, Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, said AFSCME members are “among the lowest-paid” city workers and “simply cannot afford” to take 46 furlough days and unpaid holidays over the next two years.
“For these reasons, AFSCME presented the city with an alternative proposal that would be far less burdensome to union members than a 10 percent pay cut but achieve the same savings” as layoffs, Bayer said, refusing to reveal specifics.
Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001, declined to comment on the talks.
Teamsters officials could not be reached.
Comp time has been a tough sell for those unions because they represent truck and snow-plow drivers sometimes called out on weekends and in the middle of the night.
“If you work in emergency situations, when are they gonna give you the comp time?” one source said.
Gannon refused to discuss specifics of the givebacks, except to say that “90 percent” of the 40 unions in the building trades coalition have agreed to the terms.
“Everybody has to suffer the same amount of pain," Gannon said. "That’s the problem we’re trying to put our arms around….We don’t want one group to get something different than another group is getting."
Daley has threatened to lay off 1,504 city employees, effective July 15, unless organized labor agrees to concessions to match the $76 million-a-year savings that would have been generated by layoffs.
Last year, the mayor threatened to lay off more than 1,000 city employees. He ended up cutting deals with organized labor that reduced the final number to 425.