|
|
 |
| Mayor Richard M. Daley. (AP Photo) |
Posted: Wednesday, 15 July 2009 11:38AM
Daley: Unions Failed; 431 City Workers Lose Jobs
|
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Saying two unions representing city workers have failed, Mayor Daley today said he was laying off over 400 city workers at the end of the day.
Two city unions held out, refusing to accept the mayor's plan to cut costs.
At a news conference this morning, Daley confirmed that 431 city workers would lose their jobs.
"At the close of business today, the city will be forced, under labor agreements and labor law, to take the unfortunate step of laying off 431 employees represented by these two unions," Daley said.
The two unions "have failed to reach an agreement with the city to take unpaid furlough days for the rest of the year to help us address our budget deficit and of course save our taxpayers money," he said.
The jobs lost include garbage truck drivers working for Streets and Sanitation, dental workers in the city's health clinics and civilians in the police department.
Daley also thanked the other unions that did agree to salary reductions to help save city jobs and keep government functioning.
"An agreement would have helped us protect our taxpayers, avoid layoffs and provide the services Chicagoans need during these very, very difficult economic times," Mayor Daley said.
Daley's cost-cutting plan called for workers to take 24 unpaid days off over the next two years. It also asked employees to accept comp time instead of cash for overtime, and all city holidays would be unpaid days off. All of that amounts to nearly a 10 percent pay cut.
That's a tough pill to swallow. But many workers say they see it as the lesser of two evils, and they wish their union would just go along with the mayor's plan to save their jobs.
Forty-one of city hall's 43 unions approved the mayor's plan to prevent layoffs, but the Teamsters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, rejected it.
Of the 431 workers that will be laid off, 141 workers of the 2,000 Teamsters will be laid off and 290 layoffs will come from the 4,500 workers that make up the AFSCME union.
The unions say they've presented alternative proposals to the mayor, but they could not reach a compromise.
Some workers were willing to accept lower pay to keep their positions, but union leaders say they wanted a guarantee from the mayor there would be no more layoffs in the future. And that's something Mayor Daley could not promise.
The mayor says his plan will save the city $24 million and, in the end, a total of 1,073 jobs.
CBS 2's Susan Carlson contributed to this report.
|
Copyright MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
E-Mail Story
Print Story
