Daley, Union Frustrated With Lack of Transit Funding

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Mayor Richard M. Daley is off on a trip to Milan, Italy, but before leaving today, he made another push for Illinois lawmakers to come up with a mass transit funding package.

WBBM's Regine Schlesinger reports.

Daley says it's time for the Governor and legislative leaders to put aside their personal animosity and work out a deal on funding for the CTA, Pace and Metra.

The Mayor warns that unless a mass transit bill passes, the CTA will be forced on January 20th to raise fares and eliminate 81 bus routes.

Also, the head of the union representing CTA train workers says there's a more urgent deadline. Rick Harris says come December 31st, the transit authority's labor contracts will expire.

|If there's no action from Springfield by then, in his words, "we're dead in the water, plain and simple, there can be no extensions." He says his members have made concession after concession for more than 20 years. He says he won't fund the CTA anymore on the backs of its workers.

Harris says his union will meet next week to reluctantly consider a possible job action before Christmas, presumably a strike. He says it would send a message that the players in Springfield have to get serious about funding mass transit.

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