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Ricardo Munoz
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:46pm
Tue May 14

Workers, Aldermen Want Emanuel To Push Controversial O'Hare Contractor To Recognize Janitors' Desire For SEIU Representation (VIDEO) (UPDATED)

After more than 70 percent of O’Hare’s recently hired janitors voted in favor of SEIU* Local 1 union representation, a small group of workers gathered with supporting aldermen at City Hall Tuesday to urge Mayor Rahm Emanuel to push the contractor to recognize the union.

“In a climate where everybody is trying to figure out how to squeeze the bottom line, the only way to protect workers is to have union representation,” said Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) in an interview with Progress Illinois.

Munoz said contractors, such as the O’Hare janitors’ employer, United Maintenance, Inc., are “squeezing wages.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:15pm
Thu Mar 21

How The School Closure Moratorium Bill Got Kicked Down The Road

A bill to put a to put a temporary moratorium on school closings advanced in the Senate Education Committee Tuesday, however it was “shelled” and all language was stripped out, according to a spokeswoman for Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago), the legislation’s chief sponsor.

The bill, SB 1571, was changed because the votes in the committee weren’t all there for its approval and its language needed to be strengthened.

Lawmakers were also feeling the heat of getting bills out of committee by this week’s deadline, the Associated Press reported.

Stacy Davis Gates, legislative and political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, which sent members to Springfield to testify on the moratorium’s behalf, said stripping the language was a “legislative maneuver,” because if it stayed in committee, it would be dead.

“The biggest part is it’s alive,” she said. “Had everything stayed in as is, it probably wouldn’t have gotten out.”

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
11:39am
Tue Mar 19

Education Activists Head To Springfield Calling For Moratorium On School Closings (VIDEO)

A group of education activists boarded a bus to Springfield this morning to campaign for a moratorium on school closings in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Leaving shortly after 6:30 a.m., the group of approximately 30 CPS staff members, students and supporters plan on attending a 1 p.m. Senate Education Committee hearing at the Illinois Statehouse. Organized by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) the group aimed to petition for lawmakers’ support and testify on behalf of SB 1571, legislation that would place a two-year moratorium on school closings.

“Before they instill policies and close schools they should listen to the people who actually do the job,” said Dorothy Clabaugh, a librarian at Alexander Graham Elementary School in Canaryville, which is one of 129 schools that is facing a potential school action.

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PI Original
by Aricka Flowers
10:24pm
Wed Mar 13

Second So-Called Progressive Caucus Emerges In Chicago City Council, Begging The Question Of Why?

A second group of aldermen, calling themselves the Paul Douglas Alliance (after the liberal Illinois U.S. Senator and former member of the Chicago City Council), announced they are forming a new so-called progressive caucus. The move comes one day after the council's original progressive caucus, the Progressive Reform Coalition, announced their legislative priorities. Progress Illinois breaks down what the formation of the second progressive caucus could really mean.

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
10:41pm
Wed Oct 24, 2012

Chicago Aldermen May Not Press For More Police Hires

If there was any part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 2013 city budget that aldermen might question, it was the number of police on the street. Murders are up this year citywide and several aldermen say Chicago needs more cops. There are about 1,000 fewer police officers in the CPD today than five years ago.

But Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was only partly scathed at a council budget committee hearing today, suggesting aldermen will not revise Emanuel’s budget in order to hire more police.

Council members did question how Emanuel and McCarthy arrived at the figure of having 12,500 officers by the end of 2013.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) asked the police head if there was a “written formal analysis” on staffing. McCarthy responded there was not. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
4:20pm
Tue Oct 16, 2012

City Staffing, Promised Savings Scrutinized In Emanuel Budget

The Chicago City Council started this morning four days of hearings that will examine the proposed 2013 budget that Mayor Rahm Emanuel released last week.

At a community meeting on the Northwest Side last night Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said that, “The annual budget is the most important aspect of public policy. It tells us who we are as a city.”

Perhaps to the chagrin of Fioretti, Chicago is a city that mostly lets the mayor write the budget. Unlike the U.S. Congress or Illinois General Assembly, the 50-member city council essentially plays an advisory role.

The public also played a small role under previous mayors through community hearings, but Emanuel scrapped those this year. So a group of six aldermen representing the council’s progressive caucus held a public forum last night that attracted about 200 people. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
1:25am
Sun Sep 16, 2012

CTU Strike: Union Park Rally Draws Union Leaders and Supporters (VIDEO)

A rally at Union Park brought out thousands of teachers, parents, and union supporters from Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana and abroad as the school board and Chicago Teachers Union representatives continued to work on contract negotiations Saturday afternoon.

Union President Karen Lewis drew loud applause and chants of “Karen for Mayor” from the crowd as she took the stage at about 2:30 p.m.

Lewis said union negotiators were given a written framework for a contract on Friday, with details and completed language to be discussed on Sunday. But she said that doesn’t mean the strike is about to end.

“We are still on strike. We only have a framework for an agreement, not an agreement,” Lewis said. “Until you hear it from the CTU, we are on strike.”

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PI Original
by Matthew Blake
4:07pm
Mon Mar 19, 2012

Election Preview: State And County Races

Tuesday’s primary features a number of key Democratic battles for the state House and Senate. These races will go a long way to determine how much of a voice progressives have in Springfield, at a time of significant and continued budget cuts.