Tuesday, September 30, 2008

City officials say layoffs may be coming

AP:
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will layoff about one-thousand city employees and eliminate about three-thousand vacant positions to come up with a balanced city budget.

Among those expected to be laid off are about 300 members of the Laborers Union Local 1001, whose members work in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. The layoffs could mean garbage collection and tree trimming would not be as frequent.
I could've sworn I saw another story about the possibility of a change in the garbage pick-up schedule and I just found it at the Sun-Times:
That's likely to mean major changes in garbage collection, tree trimming and other housekeeping services. Possibilities range from lengthening the time between pickups -- once-a-week now in most neighborhoods, twice-a-week in congested areas -- to privatizing recycling and shrinking crew sizes.

"They put an average of 350 trucks out-a-day. To cut 300 bodies -- they're probably gonna go to every other week pickup. That's probably the only way they can do it. Either that, or every 10 days," said Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001.

"You're gonna have to look at your garbage an extra three or four days -- and I don't know when they'll be able to get to your bulk. It's gonna create a rodent problem. You might even see a difference in the Loop area, as clean as the Loop is. That's the showcase."

A top mayoral aide, who asked to remain anonymous, insisted that weekly pickups would be maintained. That likely means greater use of crews with one laborer on a truck, instead of two.

To help plug the budget gap, Local 1001 has also been lobbying for a $10 monthly garbage collection fee and for the right to make city pickups at small businesses in exchange for a fee. It was not known whether Daley would propose the garbage fee, which some aldermen view as a backdoor property tax increase.
Tough times ahead!

1 comment:

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    Theres a perfect job out there for everyone!

    ReplyDelete

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