Union Report Shows How City Can Share More Sacrifice

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 26, 2011 9:26PM

"Shared sacrifice" has been the buzz term Mayor Emanuel has used to rally support for his measures to balance the city's budget deficit. Measures which so far have served to antagonize labor.

Today the Chicago Federation of Labor produced a report that indicated the city could save much more than the $10 million in work-rule changes Emannuel is looking for. All Emanuel has to do is cut patronage, improve government efficiency by removing multiple layers of middle management, and allow city contracts to go to the best bidder, not the most politically connected one.

(We'll give you a moment to check for flying pigs outside your window. Back. Good.)

CFL's report could save the city some $242 million. City Hall's Department of Family and Support Services alone contains "no less than one commissioner, 14 deputy commissioners, 4 assistant commissioners, 6 assistants to the commissioner and 17 others with the word 'director' in their titles," and "more than 200 employees in various supervisory roles and 334 'front line' workers, for a ratio of about 1.6 staff members per manager."

The report also states that if a department supervisor were required to oversee one additional employee, it would save taxpayers $37.5 million, and outlines a litany of ways to save the city money by keeping services such as electrical work, snow removal at the runways of the city's two airports and other services in house.

Public Works LLC of West Chester, Pa., which the CFl consulted with on the report, didn't do an exhaustive analysis of the city payroll, but said the findings indicate the Emanuel Administration should closely examine the overall proportion of workers to managers. Emanuel spokesman