City Workers Facing Disciplinary Action

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 3, 2010 8:20PM

The Mayor's office may take disciplinary action against some city workers who refused to work overtime after flooding struck Chicago late last month. The Sun Times reports that the union contract stipulates that when the city declares an emergency and gives 16 hours notice, overtime work becomes mandatory. Some laborers refused to work, since the overtime goes unpaid as part of a cost cutting agreement, and now the city has begun disciplinary action against them.

Lou Phillips, business manager for Laborers Union Local 1001 said “There are a lot of members who had to go out and get second jobs because of the agreement. You're losing 13 days a year. You're not getting paid for your holidays. It puts pressure on everybody.” A spokesman for the Streets and Sanitation department noted that the overtime request was posted in advance and said “Employees are required to work a reasonable amount of overtime as a condition of their continued employment.”

This new spat between union workers and the city highlights the vast rift between what the city needs and what it can afford to pay for. We're facing a budget gap of $650 million, but making unpaid overtime “mandatory” hardly seems like a solution to saving money. While some have floated the idea of privatizing such services, we've all seen how well that worked.