Mayor 1% continues his attack on public sector unions in Chicago with his attack now on firefighters.
Tom Ryan, president of Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, has characterized the cost-cutting contract concessions the mayor is seeking from firefighters when their contract expires June 30 as “horrendous,” “insulting” and “ridiculous.”
Chicago firefighters “do a great job,” but they’re not “immune from the change and reform” needed to solve the city’s financial crisis and deliver “greater value” to taxpayers --- Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Chicago Fire Department: Firefighters salute as an ambulance carrying the remains of a fellow firefighter arrives at the Medical Examiners office Dec. 22 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
then the double talk and bullshit starts. It's ok for mayor 1% to use corporate media to demonize and target public sector workers but when he is seen as the villan that he is he cries foul.
“Our firefighters do a great job serving the city . . . They do hard work. We will make sure that they’re properly — not only compensated, but respected for the work that they do . . . [But] no part of the budget is immune from change and reform to get greater value for the taxpayers as well as greater service for the citizens of Chicago. . . . We’re not shying away from difficult decisions,” Emanuel said.
“You describe [the proposals] as cuts. [But] there are places that, while negotiations are private, that I would say are reforms.”
http://www.suntimes.com/...
Former union president Bill Kugelman estimated that the mayor’s proposed concessions would
take $7,000 a year out of the average firefighters’ pocket.
“They’re taking the pay grades down. They’re eliminating clothing allowance. Holiday pay would go only to those who work the actual day. We fought for everybody to get it. ... This is all anti-union stuff,” he said.
As for the mayor’s proposal to take the staffing level at double-houses from ten firefighters to nine, Kugelman said, “That was the main thing we went out on strike for in 1980 — for manning. And it’s proven itself” to be a safety requirement.
The Picket Line 1980 Chicago Firefighters Strike
The Chicago Fire Department went on strike in 1980 for a contract. With the help of IAFF Mike Lass and J. Dale Berry they CFD negotiated it's first contract after almost 30 days on the picket line.
Chicago firefighters have been waiting for Emanuel to drop the other shoe ever since last fall.
That’s when the mayor made it clear he planned to take a hard line in contract talks — even though his own fire commissioner was “deathly against” closing fire houses or reducing the minimum staffing requirement on fire apparatus.
Four months later, Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff abruptly resigned, leaving firefighters without a champion.
so nobody forgets what this asshole is doing to public sector workers in our city
“We protected the mayor’s personal residence from anarchists. You’d think he could at least pay us what we are owed,” police union president Mike Shields.
Rahm screws Cops after NATO
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NATO Related Grievances Update
http://www.chicagofop.org/...
oh plus those pesky teachers
students 'got the shaft' under labor deal --Rahm Emanuel
Massive Chicago Teachers Union Rally Takes over Downtown
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Union: 80 percent of teachers reject latest contract offer
http://www.suntimes.com/...
Chicago Teachers Unionize Then Get Fired
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...