Just a week after seeming amenable to concessions to help the city close a projected $400 million budget hole, Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue said that his members aren't really feeling Daley's calls for cuts, which include city workers forgoing promised pay raises and accepting extra unpaid leave days. "We base what we're gonna do in the future on what we've seen happen in the past. And what we've seen in the past is a scandalous waste of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars," Donahue said, referring to the Hired Trucks scandal, city contracting and hiring fraud charges, and 14 months of contract negotiations that have stalled. In fact, Lodge Seven's third Vice President, Greg Bella, wrote in an editorial posted on the FOP's website that they "will sit down and help the mayor find solutions to the problem but not at the expense of our officers." more ›

The Chicago City Council agreed on Tuesday to mandatory unpaid furloughs of two-days for non-union city employees and three day furloughs for those who are unrepresented or are earning more than $75,000. The city expects to save an estimated $3.3 million, as they scramble to close an expected $400 million deficit in the city's budget 2009 fiscal year budget. But the pain won't stop there. The mayor refused to give specifics on layoffs or furloughs for front-line city workers, saying he wanted to talk to union leaders representing city workers first. "You have to sit down and talk to these people...They understand how important these jobs are to them...We're gonna work with them...If you can work this out and you can keep a number of people working, it helps the economy," Daley said. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon said "they're not asking for anything yet, [but] everything is on the table. You can assume that furlough days are part of the mix. Layoffs could be part of the mix...We'll be united wherever we make our stand. We're gonna have a coalition meeting next week to discuss what actions the unions will take collectively - if any." more ›