Streets & Sanitation slackers unlikely to be fired

Sun-Times:

Though the city's inspector general figures Chicago is wasting millions of dollars a year on garbage-collection crews "paid to do nothing" for 25 percent of their time on the job, no one has been disciplined for slacking off.

And they might never be held accountable.

Daley's plan to charge for dumpsters dumped on High rate of no-shows leads to garbage cuts Garbage collection cuts could be deep Search the salaries of city, county, state employees

City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges said Friday it would be tough to justify the firings promised by Mayor Daley and city Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi in the wake of Inspector General David Hoffman's report last month, let alone suspensions.

"Those people would come in to court and say, 'Yeah, this was a bad morning. I got in a fight with my wife. I was dealing with a lot of issues. My dog died,' " said Georges, the city's top lawyer. "You could see them making an explanation for why, on that particular day for those two hours, they were doing something they weren't supposed to do. It becomes a tough case to sustain."

Based on a 10-ward, 10-week surveillance, Hoffman concluded that Chicago garbage crews work less than six hours a day, costing taxpayers $21 million when benefits and equipment costs are factored in.

Would this be tolerated if the City of Chicago was a private corporation?

Via Newsalert!