Federal Hiring Monitor to Monitor Layoffs, Too

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 21, 2008 6:00PM

That Noelle Brennan. It's like she thought of everything!

In a city legendary for finding a way to make any city job a patronage gig, the federal hiring monitor wants to know how the city plans to lay off well over 1,000 people without it becoming a political purge. "We are aware of the potential for abuse. We're talking about how we can prevent that from happening -- what sort of process and procedures we can put in place to make sure layoffs happen in a nonpolitical way. We haven't come to any conclusion yet," Brennan told the Sun-Times.

Mayor Daley doesn't think it will be an issue, however. “A layoff is done because of union rules. I don’t know where you get that,” he told the press at a ceremony for graduating firefighters held at Navy Pier. "That's just a phony headline. It's done by union rules. I'm sorry. About 99 percent of the people are unionized in the city of Chicago. So, don't make up phony stories." Anthony Boswell, director of the city's Office of Compliance, which is charged with ensuring that the city follows the hiring rules spelled out in the Shakman decrees.

Image via AP