Capitol Fax: Today's must listen

 

[AUDIO] Rich Miller shares a podcast from The Daily Line (aka Aldertrack) where Dean Angelo - President of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the Chicago Police union - to discuss the reforms in the wake of the Justice Department probe. Offers this rather damning headline: "The headline on the piece quotes Angelo as saying that Chicago police 'care about black lives more than most black politicians.'"

No strike

 This is really old news and most of our young people are in school this morning after the Columbus Day holiday weekend. The deal was struck yesterday between CPS and CTU to avert a teacher's strike. I'm glad that the children are back in school and we won't have a repeat of 2012.

Horrific numbers on youth unemployment

In sharing some startling statistics as far as youth unemployment Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax linked to a recent Mary Mitchell column on this subject:

It is particularly disheartening that Chicago had the highest percentage of black 16- to 19-year-olds (14.3 percent) who were out of work and out of school in 2014.

There’s just no getting around the barrier a lack of education presents.

These alarming jobless statistics could also explain why there is so much violence in black and brown communities.

Still, it is unlikely the private sector is going to rain down jobs on the West and South Sides or that a state government drowning in debt is going to launch a massive job training and employment operation.

Instead of begging for jobs, we ought to be nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit.

In the past, unemployed teenagers went door to door with a rake and lawn mower looking to earn some bucks. College-bound seniors sold snow cones on front porches in the summer and shoveled snow in the winter.

Instead of waiting for someone to hand them a job, these youngsters understood it was on them to make a way.

These unemployed young men who hopefully can find an honest way to make themselves some money can hopefully become future entrepreneurs. Not only could they fill up spaced in the storefronts of our community, but they can also help create jobs for other youths. One way to look at this and come up with a solution.

That hasn’t changed.

DNA Info: Englewood Whole Foods Is Already Hiring, A Year Before Opening

WholeFoodsMarket.com

If you're looking Whole Foods Market has some positions to fill at the future Englewood store.

Nearly a year before it plans to open, the Englewood Whole Foods Market is already hiring.

The national retailer, which plans to open the 18,000-square-foot store by next summer, is looking to fill a community nutrition educator position, which would start on Oct. 1. Keith Stewart, executive marketing coordinator for the chain’s Midwest region said that the job posting is already online, but it closes July 31.

The full-time position will require the employee to be responsible for organizing, promoting and facilitating various nutrition outreach and education events. More information can be found online.

A second position, which will be posted next week, is a community liaison. The requirements are simple, Stewart said: “They need to have a passion for the Englewood community,” he said. “They need to understand the community and know how to bring people together, but passion is No. 1.”

There will be about 100 available jobs for the Englewood store and Stewart said there will be job fairs and open hiring calls to ensure they're getting people from the community.

Starbuck's coming to Englewood...

Starbucks.com

First the Whole Foods Market announced in 2013 and now Starbuck's. I've reposted a gram from RAGE and now the "dreaded G word" is rearing its ugly head again:

Another jolt of economic activity for Englewood: Starbucks will soon join Whole Foods at 63rd and Halsted.

The upscale coffee maker plans to serve more than lattes. Also on the menu will be job-training for the disadvantaged, CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker reports.

Howard Bailey employs a half a dozen young people at his new cafe in Englewood. When he opened six months ago, he came in with a mission to hire youth from the community.

Bailey is doing exactly what Starbucks is planning. The coffee giant plans to build a shop and training center at 63rd and Halsted.

Like Bailey, Starbucks will target underserved youth aged 16 to 24. They plan to hire and train 20 to 25 at the Englewood location.

Look out for a job fair in August.

Whatever is happening in Englewood...how do we bring that to other parts of the city?

DNA Info: Kennedy King College to Host Career Fair on Wednesday

Get your professional attire ready and some resumes:

Employers from companies such as Mariano's, James McHugh Construction Company and Chicago Public Schools will be at Kennedy King College's career fair on Wednesday.

The event will be held at the college's U Building, 740 West 63rd St., from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

You may have also seen a quick blurb on this at Concerned Citizens of Chatham

Kennedy King College Job Fair Wednesday April 22, 2015 The Great Hall at KKC 63rd Halsted 10 am- 1 pm
Posted by Concerned Citizens of Chatham on Monday, April 13, 2015

Capitol Fax: Plenty of blame to go around on minimum wage

Rich Miller's syndicated column posted to his blog this morning was regarding the push for a minimum wage hike in the state. Of course as well as know last week the Chicago City Council passed a minimum wage hike of their own and will be signed into law by Mayor Emanuel.

That being said locally 6th Ward Alderman Sawyer had been in favor of a hike and put out a statement in support of the minimum wage ordinance after its approval. He had also been out with the Fight for 15 crowd in support of a hike.

Regardless now that the city has supported a hike of their own and the state hasn't been able to pass one of their own what are you thoughts on this?

Do you think it will hurt small businesses? Do you think this will help out those low-wage employees at many of these corporate service-industry establishments? Do you think our young people who need work experience would be adversely impacted by this hike?

Englewood Tech Hub Aims to Fight Unemployment, Empower South Siders - Englewood - DNAinfo.com Chicago

Via DNA Info

Englewood Tech Hub Aims to Fight Unemployment, Empower South Siders - Englewood - DNAinfo.com Chicago

This story highlights another way to turn Englewood around. To make Englewood friendlier to technology. Perhaps that long struggling neighborhood can be another branch of "Sillicone Valley". So Englewood could be a place of great commercial activity again with retail and perhaps some entertainment and then some technology to boot. And it will also be near Kennedy-King College.

Think about this if the Whole Foods will provide jobs to students at Kennedy-King at least, this tech center could also provide jobs to this tech hub.

And let's not forget Congressman Bobby Rush attempted to bring a tech hub to Englewood and that failed effort was the result of a Sun-Times probe!

Sun-Times: CPS announces more than 1,000 staff layoffs

This is certainly an interesting if not a shocking development:

Before releasing its budget recommendations for the 2014-15 school year or enrollment projections, Chicago Public Schools announced staff layoffs on Thursday for 550 teachers and 600 other school staffers.

Added to the 147 staffers (including 76 teachers) who already got pink slips at three schools confirmed for a turnaround, 625 teachers and 671 other school employees are now looking for work.

CPS began notifying approximately 1,150 employees on Thursday that their schools would not retain them in the fall due to falling projected enrollment. That’s about half the number who got pink-slipped last year in the wake of a historic number of school closings, and district officials said on Thursday they believed that like last year, about 60 percent would be rehired at other CPS schools.

“The staffing changes are driven by declining student enrollment at each of the affected schools,” said schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett. Since the district doles out a set amount of money per child enrolled, fewer students lead to budget cuts, she said. The 550 teachers, she said, represent the lowest number of annual teacher layoffs in the past five years. And some help has been available for schools who have asked for it, she said.

The Chicago Teachers Union said the layoffs also mark the fourth time in the past five years in which more than 1,000 CPS employees lost their jobs in the summer. All of the teachers and at least 250 of the other staffers are CTU members.

Tribune: CTA to restart jobs program for ex-offenders

Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune / December 19, 2013

 This is certainly great news:

An entry-level CTA jobs program designed to offer a second chance to hard-to-employ individuals is itself getting a second chance, officials announced today.

Reinstating the program, while providing employment for 65 people, might also help lead to cleaner CTA rail cars, which has been a challenge for the CTA this winter.

The CTA reached an agreement with its rail union, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union, to reinstate the rail car servicer apprentice program, which employs ex-offenders, individuals completing drug-abuse programs, victims of domestic violence and others.

The program was scrapped at the end of 2013 in a dispute between CTA management and ATU Local 308. The rail union's president, Robert Kelly, said he was protecting union jobs by dissolving the apprentice program. He said the CTA was cutting back on jobs that pay full wages and benefits and hiring people in lower-paying positions. The CTA rejected Kelly's contention.

Reinstatement of the rail car servicer program, combined with 200 bus servicer apprenticeships introduced last year, expands the CTA’s apprentice program to 265 total positions, officials said.

Ward Room: Aldermen Back Referendum for $15 Minimum Wage

Do you agree with this?

Saying it’s “time to act”, a group of Chicago aldermen, along with advocacy groups, low-wage workers and community members, are backing a set of city referendums on the March 18 ballot calling for a higher minimum wage.

All eight members of the City Council’s Progressive Reform Coalition, along with Aldermen Joe Moreno (1), Will Burns (4) and Jason Ervin (28), are backing the measure. Last year, a coalition of advocacy groups worked to place a non-binding referendum on the March ballot to establish a minimum wage in Chicago.

The referendum asks if the city should require a minimum wage of $15 per hour for employees of companies with an annual gross revenues in excess of $50 million.

Together, the aldermen and advocates argue that a higher wage is needed for working families to survive on the kinds of minimum wage jobs that prevalent throughout the economy and are often the primary or only option for workers.

Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker in Chicago only earns $17,000 a year, while a majority of Chicago’s low-wage workers are over the age of 30 and over half live in households receiving all of their income from low-wage jobs, according to a 2012 report by the Women Employed and Action Now Institute.

TRIBUNE: CTA to keep employing imperiled rail car cleaners

It appears there is a plan for those ex-con CTA workers who are cleaning L cars at the various terminals on the CTA although now they will be transferred to cleaning CTA buses:

After weeks of public disagreement between Chicago Transit Authority officials and union leaders over a program that has given felons jobs cleaning rail cars, a transit agency spokesman said Wednesday night that workers from the program would be transferred into jobs cleaning buses.

CTA spokesman Brian Steele said he couldn't give details, citing an announcement planned for Thursday morning, but he confirmed that workers from the rail car servicer apprenticeship program would be moved into a CTA bus-cleaning program. Steele said he could not say how many workers would be transferred.

Steele's confirmation followed a news release announcing the plan from Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, which represents rail workers.

Definitely good news for many of those workers who were concerned about whether or not they'd remain employed.

WTTW: CTA's Ex-Offenders Program Ending

[VIDEO] WTTW did a story about the ex-offenders apprentice program that the CTA plans to close at the end of theyear. We've written about this a number of times during the course of this month. According to this story we also learned that there is a similar program for CTA buses that will remain in effect at least through 2015.

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• Tribune: CTA train-cleaning schedule will be dialed back  
• Tribune: CTA hiring program for ex-offenders to end

VIDEO: Chicago at the tipping point in Pullman

[VIDEO] Sometime last month our local FOX affiliated aired a special entitled "Chicago at the Tipping Point". The special was anchored by Robin Robinson and Mike Flannery and explored the economy not only in the city but also in Illinois. Here's a description:

The Chicago economy is a huge economy with 9.5 million people, a workforce of 4 million, and an economic output of $500 billion a year. In fact, if Chicago and the suburbs were a country, we'd have one of the 25 largest economies in the world.

But the world is changing, our economic landscape is shifting and the jobs that mean so much to us are in transition. That's benefited some people and left others struggling to keep up.

FOX 32 News explores the current and past state of the economy in Chicago and Illinois, along with the national and global impact, in a Special Report on the Economy: Chicago at the Tipping Point.

That description page has the video for the whole special which you can visit at this link. The program itself has a duration of about 33 minutes.

What you see above is the segment (with a 5 minute duration) about the Walmart that opened during the month of September in Pullman. We see comments from 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale. For example:

Miles away, in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, Alderman Anthony Beale still has a commercial strip - but it's been a challenge.

"The real money is leaving the community," says Beale. "It's going outside the community, it's going to the suburbs, because you know we didn't have the stores that were conducive to the working class people going to shop." 

Beale says the stores needed competition and better options for his residents. They got both in a big box.

Walmart isn't the only thing going on in Pullman. A company called Method is building a distribution center in Pullman with a promise of 120 jobs starting at $65K according to this report. And it seems potential for more growth in jobs is coming to the Pullman/Roseland areas.
...
"I made a plea to my colleagues in the City Council," [Beale] says. "Some of my colleagues have four and five grocery stores in their area. I didn't have any. So how are you gonna tell me that my community has the highest crime rate, we have the highest cancer rate, the highest diabetes rate, the highest unemployment rate, the highest foreclosure rate, but we're not entitled to a good paying job and good produce and things like that in my community?"

As far as Chicago goes there are a lot of issues, but here's something to consider with this report:

Jobs: Metro Chicago's dismal 9.5% unemployment rate ranks 315th in the US, just barely ahead of #327 metro Detroit. Factory jobs that remain are increasingly automated and intellect-intensive. Ford Motor Co's South Side Assembly plant at 126th & Torrence prefers to hire workers with at least two years of college. High school dropouts can't even find work in a factory any more. It is Chicago's shame that so few in these dying neighborhoods have sufficient skills to enable them to move Downtown.

There are other bullet points such as education. As far as jobs go education is a key. Unfortunately we also have to consider money, it takes money to ensure that our young people can get the education that well help them get employed. It also takes money to adequately deal with crime in the form of more police. So is Chicago truly at the tipping point?

Tribune: CTA train-cleaning schedule will be dialed back

Photo by artistmac/flickr

The Tribune's John Hilkevitch writes about one side effect of shutting down the ex-offender program as was announced recently:

The quick spot-cleaning that CTA rail cars receive when trains pull into terminals in the mornings and afternoons will be eliminated at the end of the year, the transit agency and its rail workers union said Monday.

The CTA has not budgeted for new positions to replace ex-offenders whom the CTA has employed as part-time apprentices since 2007 to clean rail cars and buses, said Robert Kelly, president of Local 308 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. The ex-offenders program will end Dec. 31, the CTA and the union said last week.

The union said trains will be cleaned only on the midnight shifts starting at the first of the year, because the CTA said it is eliminating all morning and midafternoon jobs for car-servicer positions.

“This could become a serious health matter for the public,’’ Kelly said.

CTA spokesman Brian Steele confirmed that effective Jan. 1, all current daytime crews will instead be assigned to work overnight hours to replace the apprentices, who work exclusively at night.

Well what this means is we won't see spot-cleaning in the mornings and afternoons that we would see if we were waiting for a train from 95th Street for example.

Tribune: CTA hiring program for ex-offenders to end

You might have seen this on the Concerned Citizens of Chatham FB page recently, this program is expected to go away at the end of the year:

A program that helps ex-offenders gain work experience cleaning rail cars and buses for the Chicago Transit Authority will end Dec. 31, according to the Amalgamated Transit Union and the CTA.

The program that began in November 2007 has been in peril for several years. In 2011, it almost wasn't extended and became a bargaining chip between the union and the transit authority. And by December 2012, when the 2013 contract was finalized, no additional extension had been agreed to, dooming the program after this year.

The 65 current participants will not be allowed to finish their nine-month apprenticeships, according to CTA spokesman Steve Mayberry. He said the 65 positions are in addition to the necessary number of service workers, costing the CTA $2.9 million annually. As part of the 2011 agreement to extend the program through 2013, the CTA hired back 24 rail service workers who had been laid off during the Great Recession.

Mayberry said that while the CTA has supported the program, union Local 308 president Robert Kelly has pushed to end it. The CTA pays ex-offenders $9.50 an hour for the car and bus servicer jobs, while union workers are paid between about $13 and $30 to do the same thing.

Kelly said he had "big problems" with the program — but he also said the CTA didn't ask for an extension to it in 2012.

"The CTA had every opportunity in contract talks last year to bring it up," Kelly said. "If this program saves the CTA money, is it my job to walk in and say (can I) save you ... more?" Kelly said. "If they would have brought it up, we would have dealt with it at the time."

Capitol Fax: Quinn attends huge anti-Rahm rally

[VIDEO] Rich Miller shares this video of a rally that took place at the UIC Forum yesterday. He describes this rally as a "blatantly anti-Rahm rally". This rally was alluded to in a status from RAGE's FB page.

If you read Miller's CapFax at times you may have seen reports how Gov. Quinn and Mayor Emanuel seem to butt heads at times. Now that it's about time for re-election for Quinn next year and Emanuel in 2015, it was noted by Miller that while "He didn’t really say all that much, but his presence at that rally likely won’t go unnoticed by the 5th Floor." The Governor's remarks are at about the 1hr 28min mark in the vid embedded above.

NOTE: The original vid was taken down on YouTube at some point and I added the most recent uploaded vid of this event by CAN-TV.

A lot of quotes were taken by this Tribune article about the "Take Back Chicago" rally from yesterday. In RAGE's status this was described as a rally of "thousands of community & union members to launch a powerful shared economic justice platform!!". Furthermore they also noted that "We are full support of #takebackchicago - We continue our work because we want to #takebackenglewood too!!

Speaking of re-election for the Mayor in 2015 could two Alderman possibly be angling to run for Mayor in about 16 months. This WBEZ article explores that possibility, although I could believe Bob Fioretti (2nd) might be more apt for a run than Scott Waguespack (32nd) since Fioretti has been essentially drawn out of his near south side ward in the remap.

Ed Gardner stops sewer construction project...

You may have seen information about this protest on our FB page. Michael LaFargue of West Chesterfield e-mails an update to this work stoppage by former Soft Sheen Products & House of Kicks owner Ed Gardner. He's on this crusade to advocate for construction jobs on projects that especially take place in Black communities. He started with the projects taking place in Evergreen Park with a new shopping center. This time a sewer project taking place in the community.

Ed Gardner Stops Sewer Construction Project at 90th and King Drive

On Friday June 7, 2013, Mr. Ed Gardner, leading 50 to 60 people, stopped the work at the sewer construction site between 90th and King Drive and 90th and Indiana. This site was shut down from about 9:30am to 2:30pm due to the ongoing lack of African Americans working. (A few photos recently received are attached)

Some of those in attendance included Alderman Roderick Sawyer, Radio Personalities Cliff Kelly and Dorothy Tillman, W.L. Lillard, Bob Isreal, Carl McFarlan, Mr. Godfrey Lawson and Mr. Arnold Pugh of the Roseland Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. E. Washington of Chesterfield Community Council, and John Large of the West Chesterfield Community Association. There were also many local carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc. present.

Sun-Times: CTA replacing outside security by hiring customer-service workers

During the past two or so months you may have seen posts advertising about the part-time Customer Service Assistant positions that the CTA had held job fairs for. Well this story will concern those of you who have pursued this opportunity!

Spurred by a deal with a key labor union, the transit agency has begun replacing hundreds of contract security guards it now uses to patrol L and subway stops with full- and part-time CTA customer-service employees. CTA officials say the move will make stations safer by putting security responsibilities in the hands of workers trained especially to do the CTA work.

The customer-service workers “will have roughly the same amount of training as the private security personnel, but that training will be specific to the CTA,” agency spokesman Brian Steele says.

The new workers will perform the same duties as the private security guards, according to Steele, and will be able to do other things, too — like retrieve items dropped on L tracks and help customers who are unfamiliar with ticket machines.

One difference: The CTA isn’t requiring its customer-service workers to get state security licenses — something the agency now requires under its private security guard contract with Securitas Security Services USA, and its minority subcontractor, Star Detective & Security Agency. The more than 450 full-time CTA rail guards employed by those companies all are licensed through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, so they’re trained and screened under rules set by state law.

Not requiring that poses “a safety concern,” says James Huckabee, vice president of Star Detective, especially in light of so-called wilding incidents in which groups of teenagers get off the L and attack or harass people, and the Boston Marathon bombings, in which bombs were placed in backpacks.
...
The CTA plans to keep hiring outside security companies to provide guards working with dogs at train stops and has no plans to change that staffing. Securitas is in the final year of a five-year contract that paid it $1.7 million last year for that work, also with Star as its subcontractor. The contract is up in July.

Besides keeping the canine cops, the CTA has installed $26 million worth of high-definition video cameras at L and subway stations — a tool it didn’t have when Securitas was first hired in the late 1990s.

In February, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis found that crime at L stops was up 21 percent in 2012, but violent crime was down 30 percent. The most common offense — turnstile-jumping or other forms of fare evasion — soared by 41 percent, the analysis found.

The move to replace the 450-plus private security guards with CTA employees follows a Dec. 7 deal the agency reached with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308. The agreement calls for the CTA to employ a total of 240 full-time “customer-service representatives,” and nearly 700 new, part-time “customer-service assistants,” each who can work up to 32 hours a week.

The CTA plans to have the new hires in place this summer. More than 280 have been hired so far. 

REDMINDER: CTA job fair for customer service assistants

Posted this information last month and at that time there was one on the west side. I'm sure for many of you it was very last minute however we recieved this info at the last minute. This time we're going to remind you at least a week in advance, however, we'll be sure to post one more reminder either two days or the day before the job fair. The flyer will be posted below but here's the direct info for where and when this next CTA job fair is to be located.

• Saturday, March 23, 2013 from 9 AM to 1 PM
  Roberto Clemente Community Academy
  1147 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

Again please refer to flyer below for more details as to the educational and experience requirements for this position. Also please remember that CTA - as per a press release -  is seeking to fill 700 customer service assistant positions at L stops throughout the city.