Fewer traffic control aides will be posted at downtown intersections during rush hour after the city laid off about half of Chicago's full-time brigade to save money.
The 80 or so remaining traffic aides will be dispatched to hot spots as needed "rather than blanket coverage at daily posts.
The parking enforcement work the aides now do will be taken over by city Revenue Department workers.
The layoffs stem from a plan Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on his first full day in office in mid-May, not his more recent plan to lay off up to 625 workers after he said unions failed to agree to work-rule changes.
The administration hopes to save $2.3 million by cutting the traffic aides and getting better collection of parking fines..
When he announced his intentions in May, Emanuel said some traffic aides were getting full-time salaries for part-time work.
The city has about 165 full-time traffic aides who make an average of about $44,500 a yea. There also are about 550 part-timers who are called in to work special events and construction sites, and they will continue to do so. They're paid by the venues or out of construction funds.
Traffic aides are ready to work 40 hours a week, five more than called for in their contracts, if that's what it takes to save their jobs, Brandon said.
About 170 more SEIU Local 73 workers are at risk of losing their jobs. They are city custodians who work at the airports and libraries. After Emanuel talked about the 625 layoffs, Local 73 received notice that the city was looking into giving that work to a private contractor.
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1 comment:
It's a start! Now, how about some of those aldermen? It's should start "in house", don't cha-know...?
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