Results tagged “unions”

As was indicated last week, the Graduate Employees' Organization at the University of Illinois has gone on strike after negotiations with the school broke down. The two sides were at odds over free tuition for graduate and teaching assistants. An agreement was apparently reached over the weekend, but the school claims the union made additional demands after that agreement was reached.

• A CTA bus driver was injured last night when his bus got caught in the crossfire from a shoot-out; the driver's injuries were cuts caused by flying glass.
• The three teens charged in the beating death of Derrion Albert all pleaded not guilty at a hearing today.
• Shocker: Daley defends TIFs.

In less than a week, graduate teaching and research assistants at the University of Illinois may go on strike for the first time ever. According to The News-Gazette, on Monday, the Graduate Employees' Organization voted overwhelmingly in favor to authorize a strike against the UI Board of Trustees if an agreement can't be met. The GEO has been negotiating with UI administrators for over six months, seeking a contract "that would set the minimum salary for a 50 percent nine-month appointment at the UI's estimate of a living wage for a graduate student, as well as protect tuition waivers for TAs and GAs."

Hyatt, the hotel chain owned by Chicago's storied Pritzker clan, raised $950 million in its initial public offering Thursday, as the hotel chain took its shares public. Shares were priced at $25, but closed up 12 percent Thursday, near $28 a share. "We are delighted at the success of our initial public offering and with our new partnership with the NYSE," Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian said of the IPO. "Our focus will continue to be providing authentic hospitality to our guests and driving preference for our brands."

In his 2010 budget presented last week, Daley included 24 unpaid days (12 holidays, 12 furlough days) for all non-union and many union city employees. One group he can't force these unpaid days upon are the Police and Fire Departments. But that's not stopping Daley from making overtones suggesting that those departments should take one for the team and join the unpaid train. Said the Mayor, “Everyone has to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And that’s why I’m taking 24 days without pay, and I got other people to take that, because you have to show that government understands the suffering that is going on throughout your communities.”

Last month, the members of the Chicago Newspaper Guild voted down a proposal by James Tyree, a deal with the devil which would have gutted the union in exchange for his buying the bankrupt media group. Late yesterday afternoon it was announced that the guild had reached an agreement with Tyree, in spite of his claims that he would withdraw his bid and that the "concessions are an absolute prerequisite from all 18 collective bargaining units for a proposed sale." While the agreement, which the membership voted on yesterday afternoon and evening, means significant pay cuts, Jim Newton, chair of the Waukegan Unit of the Guild said that the agreement "demonstrate[s] our commitment to [the paper] and our craft.... We look forward to helping this new venture not only maintain but improve our presence in the local and regional media market."

Unionized workers from the Sun-Times approved a motion that rejects concessions set by management to pave the way for the sale of the Sun-Times Media Group to businessman James Tyree by a vote of 83-22. According to the Trib, "Management has said the concessions are an absolute prerequisite from all 18 collective bargaining units for a proposed sale of parent Sun-Times Media Group." In spite of a memo sent earlier Tuesday by Chairman Jeremy Halbreich, reminding employees that a rejection of the concessions would mean a withdrawal of the bid, it seems Tyree isn't giving up on his bid. He told the Sun-Times:

• The latest parking meter issue has Mayor Daley annoyed, calling the issue "unacceptable."
• The Sun-Times' union workers will shortly assemble to vote on concessions requested in Jim Tyree's bid for the paper's parent company. A smaller paper in the STMG family - the Post-Tribune - voted against the concessions last night.
• The IHSA has reinstated all levels of football at North Chicago High School after the program was suspended following a brawl with Simeon High earlier this month.

The Service Employees International Union is expected to announce today it will endorse Gov. Pat Quinn in next year's gubernatorial election. The 180,000 member organization plans to join forces with the 110,000 member Teamsters to support Quinn. Both organizations are largely concentrated in Cook County. Meanwhile, both the carpenters and laborers unions have endorsed Quinn's primary opponent, state comptroller Dan Hynes. [Sun-Times]

Workers at SK Hand Tools, which has a plant on Chicago's West side and another in suburban McCook, walked out Tuesday morning on a one day unfair labor practices strike. SK Tools withdrew coverage last May without notice, leaving employees there, who are members of Teamsters Local 743 to pay for health care out of pocket. "This has been devastating," Local President Richard Berg said. "It's like anybody else in society. If you don't need health insurance, you're fine, but when you need it, you really need it." Noting that one worker has been hit with $20,000 in medical expenses, he added, "People are threatened with losing their homes, with financial ruin." Like many U.S. manufacturers, SK Tools has been hit in the economic crisis and union officials acknowledge that the company has has been having some financial difficulties. They say that a concession proposal was put forth that would have cut wages by 20 percent, and reduced pay by $4 an hour for the first six months of the new contract.

Governor Quinn and Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees met this week over ways that the state and the largest union representing state employees could work out ways to save Illinois money. But neither party had much to say about the conversation. Quinn termed the meeting "constructive", and said that his office will meet with members of the union's bargaining committee to discuss avoiding potential layoffs or furlough days.

Although it seemed that Da Mare wasn’t about to step into the fray of (yet another) Wal-Mart in Chicago a few months ago, he’s come out behind Howard Brookins and his efforts to bring the massive retailer into the South side’s Chatham neighborhood. Claiming that Wal-Mart jobs are aren’t meant to provide long-term stable employment in a community, he took a shot at the United Food and Commercial Workers union, who’s members work at Jewel and Dominick’s stores across the region. “When they hire, you know, a couple of thousand people - you know, these are beginning jobs,” the mayor told WBEZ. “People want to just start some place,” he said, adding that he doesn’t understand why unions get upset when Wal-Mart wants to open in Chicago, but not in the suburbs. Mayor Daley’s staff may be updating his YouTube page, but they don’t seem to be checking the rest of the internet much.

As the deadline passed for two holdout unions to agree to concessions with the City of Chicago, the Mayor announced over 400 layoffs of city workers Wednesday. "I don't want to lay anyone off. It could have been avoided," Daley said Wednesday. "I feel for the members and of course their families." Referring to the truck drivers, library and public health and safety employees that were laid off, he said that Teamsters Local 726 and AFSCME Council 31 "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."

Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has issued a statement in regards to the impending city job cuts coming from the Daley administration as a result of that union's refusal to make concessions with City Hall.

Midnight has struck for a pair of unions that have been holding out on making a deal with the City on concessions to save job cuts. Now what? Well, we're not really sure. Mayor Daley will hold a press conference this morning at 10:30 a.m. to discuss what's next, though yesterday he did threaten that 431 jobs from the two unions - 141 from Local 726 of the Teamsters union and 290 from Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - would be cut if the concessions weren't made. But the unions are prepared for the cuts, as Tom Clair, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 726, told the Trib, "I know it's going to happen. I was told by a city official last night that layoff notices would be handed out this morning when workers show up to their shifts. I don't know who, and haven't been notified yet, but I expect the layoffs to be this morning."

• The number of city jobs to be cut if the unions don't come to an agreement with Mayor Daley: 431 according to the Mayor.
• Authorities arrested Elgin Nathan James for running "a street gang that allegedly exerts control over the hardcore punk rock music [scene] through the use of violence."
• A strange story from the South Side where a man's two prosthetic legs were stolen. The legs were later recovered unharmed.

While one of three unions that have been holding out on a labor deal with Mayor Daley has agreed to terms with the Mayor, two others are still not budging as Daley's self-imposed midnight deadline approaches tonight. Laborers Local 1001 recently reached an agreement with the Mayor, leaving just the Teamsters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) as the lone hold-outs, according to the Tribune's Clout Street. Daley has been threatening to lay off as many as 1,500 workers if the city's unions didn't reach a deal with him that included concessions and unpaid holidays. The city claims deals reached with other unions have saved 800 jobs and that if the two hold-out unions don't come to an agreement, around 700 jobs from those two groups will be cut.

There are conflicting reports this morning that the game of chicken between the unions and Mayor Daley may be at an end. The Sun-Times is reporting this morning that the two sides are in the process of finalizing a two-year deal that will cut costs but save 1,504 city workers who had otherwise been selected for layoffs. Of course, as the Sun-Times points out, a two-year deal would conveniently carry through the aldermanic and mayoral elections of 2011. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon wouldn't discuss details, but did say, "There's a deal in the works."

The City Council today voted 42-6 to approve 15 unpaid furlough days for non-union city workers in an effort to cut costs for the city as it continues to deal with massive budget issues. Ald. Edward Burke (14th) insisted it was to keep from losing jobs, saying, "I don't think we have much choice." Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) said, "We have to show [the unions] we're serious." According to Clout Street, the six votes against the plan were from Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Robert Fioretti (2nd), Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Sandi Jackson (7th) and Joe Moore (49th). No word on who the two missing votes were from.

Amid the ongoing game of political football that has defined negotiations over how to close the gap in the city's looming budget hole, one voice has been remarkably absent: city workers who would bear the brunt of the mayor's economic sanctions. That silence was broken yesterday as SEIU Local 73 members descended on the city council meeting to vent their anger at both the city and the union. Workers are angry at the city for forcing layoffs on them, and at their union for not accepting furlough days. “We will take the [furlough] days. We will make the adjustments. But somehow people are demanding something that we haven’t demanded,” detention aide John Joynter told the Sun-Times. “We are not being represented by either the city or the union. We have not had a voice in any of this. It’s like we’re pushed aside.”

As 1,500 city workers await threatened pink slips, Mayor Daley (before he heads to Switzerland) met with union leaders to try to hash out some sort of compromise. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon said, "We may take a tough hit, and we probably are at the end of the day, but we want to get our arms around this as best we possibly can to make sure we minimize the amount of layoffs." [Trib's Clout Street]

Even more pink slips than first expected will be sent to city workers today: instead of the expected 1,100 employees getting laid off, an extra 400 will receive the bad news as well. According to the Sun-Times, the 1,504 layoffs will go into effect July 15 unless there's a last-second deal with the unions. Here's the rundown of how each department will be affected (uniformed police officers and fire fighters are exempt from this round).

Mayor Daley's plan to enforce furlough days on nonunion city workers has been delayed indefinitely while some changes are made. The City Council balked at Daley's original plan and insisted, instead, that a sliding scale be implemented: the higher a worker's salary, the more furlough he or she has to take. Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) told the Sun-Times, "It would have been very difficult to pass without it. When you get to a certain level of income, the impact should be greater. We have to take that into consideration for those on the lower end of the pay scale." And while Daley seems to have agreed to make the concession, he wasn't happy about it, especially the suggestion that workers making under $35,000 should be exempt from furlough days altogether.

The state of the economy, and a looming $300 million budget gap has left at least 1,100 city employees at risk of being laid off if their unions do not agree to two weeks of unpaid downtime instead of cash overtime. According to the Sun-Times,

Mayor Daley took issue with President Barack Obama's assessment of the economy yesterday, saying that he didn't see the "glimmers of hope" for an economic recovery that Obama does. "When you talk about a glimmer of hope, I don't know what that meant," Daley said. "I don't know where you see it. Maybe you see it in Washington, D.C., but I don't think you're seeing it across the country," he added. "I don't want to do it [layoffs]. But if next year, everything falls apart and the economy gets worse, what do we do? ... That's the problem," Mayor Grouchypants said. "I'm not trying to be a doomsday person. I'm just telling you the facts. ... Someone said, 'There's a glimmer of hope' [for the economy]. What is the glimmer of hope? Where is it? We don't see it. ... The recession could last for a few more years."

Da Mayor giveth and Da Mayor taketh away. On the heels of finally showing his hand on plans for the city's stimulus money, Mayor Daley is back to huffing and puffing about the budget shortfall. Apparently tired of waiting on the unions to get back to him on an agreement, Daley will take out his budget rage on 3,500 nonunion employees who will have to take up to 16 unpaid days by December via furlough days and an elimination of sick and vacation days. Da Mayor's hoping by taking his frustration out on nonunion employees, he'll spur the unions to action. A mayoral aide told the Sun-Times, "We can't control the unions. But this is a piece we can control. We're facing a serious budget deficit. The unions will have to help us, or there will be layoffs."

In a new federal indictment returned on January 22, former president of Teamsters Local 743 Robert Walston is alleged to have "conspire[d] . . . to knowingly and intentionally distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, namely, 5 kilograms or more of mixtures and substances containing cocaine."

Through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 8 local stories that captivated us in 2008.

There's news out of City Hall today and for the first time in weeks it doesn't involve Mayor Daley's Prophesies of Doom™. Instead, it seems the Mayor and union leaders have worked out an agreement that could greatly reduce the 929 planned layoffs in the city's 2009 budget. In exchange for offering eligible union members cash incentives for voluntary retirement, union leaders have agreed to reduce the cost of overtime for city workers.

"We have 433 eligible people in the Laborers pension fund. We're hoping around 60 will take advantage of it," Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001, said Monday.

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