More than 1,100 will start getting layoff notices this week

More than 1,100 will start getting layoff notices this week
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
June 2, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1602364,CST-NWS-layoff02web.article


BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com
More than 1,100 city employees -- none sworn police officers or firefighters -- will start receiving layoff notices later this week after organized labor refused Mayor Daley's demand for 17 days off without pay and comp time instead of cash overtime.

For weeks, Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon has been holding out for a two-year, no-layoff guarantee that Daley insists he cannot give because of nosediving city revenues.

On Friday, Gannon and a handful of other union leaders met again with three top mayoral aides: chief-of-staff Paul Volpe, labor negotiator David Johnson and intergovernmental affairs director John Dunn.

They informed the Daley troika that the no-layoff guarantee was non-negotiable. Without it, organized labor will not agree to join 3,600 non-union city employees in taking 17 days off without pay by Dec. 31 -- including three previously-scheduled government shutdown days -- and comp time instead of cash.

"We went through this six months ago and we were very creative in preserving jobs. Now, we're at it again. What are they gonna do next time, take a kidney?" said a union leader, who asked to remain anonymous.

"We can't even sit and talk with them without any type of guarantee of no-layoffs. Right now, they said they can't guarantee anything. So, they're gonna go ahead and send out the layoff notices."

Gannon could not be reached for comment. Last month, he told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Nobody wants to see anybody lose their jobs. But, we can't go through this drill every quarter. We have to put some stability into their lives. ...I f there's any agreement, there's gonna have to be some guarantee."

On his way into a Finance Committee meeting Monday, Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold confirmed that layoff notices would start going out later this week to comply with union contracts, some of which require 30 days notice.

Layoffs must take effect July 1 to produce the savings Daley is counting on to help erase a projected, $300 million year-end shortfall, officials said.

But, Saffold also told the Sun-Times that negotiations with organized labor are continuing.

Last fall, Daley threatened to lay off nearly 1,000 employees and ended up cutting deals with union leaders that reduced the final number to 420.

Even so, a change in side-street snow removal turned into a fiasco that the mayor was forced to reverse in mid-winter.