Heat leads city workers to reject overtime request
July 20, 2011 6:48PM
Updated: July 21, 2011 12:59PM
How hot was it Wednesday? Hot enough to lead city workers to turn down overtime.
City Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne wanted city laborers to work 10-hour shifts Wednesday and Thursday. He wanted the 350, three-employee crews to catch up on a backlog of garbage collection and to pick up fallen tree branches left behind by last week’s storm.
But Laborers Union Local 1001 and several members of the rank and file complained to the Chicago Sun-Times about the danger posed by an extended shift in extreme heat.
“You’re in an alley between two buildings with no air, on asphalt. . . . You’re gonna keep these people there for 10 hours straight. It’s dangerous,’’ said Lou Phillips, business manager for Laborers Local 1001.
Fran Spielman
