Labor

Yesterday At City Hall: Daley's Budget, Wal-Mart, DREAM Act, Police Transparency

Angela Caputo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:12:16 -0800

The Chicago City Council held its full monthly meeting yesterday. We've got some of the highlights:

Budget Priorities Take A Beating

All eyes have been on Mayor Daley's 2010 spending plan as of late, which relies on $370 million from the city's asset-sale proceeds to help balance next year's $6.14 billion budget. Despite this windfall, the safety net is still going to take a hit. During the public portion of yesterday's meeting, several social service providers testified in favor of restoring the cuts to substance abuse and mental health funding. As regular readers may recall, the city's 12 mental health clinics will lose an additional $3 million in state funding this year because of the Daley administration's own incompetence at implementing a new $16 million billing system.

In response, Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) voiced support for rescinding the cuts and blasted Daley's "property tax relief" gimmick -- a plan introduced yesterday to pull $35 million from a reserve fund created by the parking meter lease to refund some taxpayers between $50 and $100 on their bills. "What impact is that going to have on those homeowners lives? It's very negligible," Moore said. "I think you're going to get a lot more bang for your buck by helping the mentally ill lead productive lives through counseling and other support services." Listen:

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Ald. Moore isn't the only one slamming Daley's meager property tax rebate. After combing through the budget proposal, the Civic Federation concluded (PDF) that, while the city should indeed pull $56.5 million from the parking meter human infrastructure fund for operating expenses, none of it should go to Daley's so-called property tax relief. Elsewhere in their report, the business-friendly think tank pushed for greater cuts and chided the mayor for dipping into the asset sale reserves, urging the City Council to enact certain safeguards.

The Federation also called out Daley's efforts to keeping the vast tax increment financing (TIF) budget hidden in the shadows, noting that there's no excuse for excluding "full financial information including expenses, revenues, fund balance and debt" from the annual budget.

Lyle Slams Proposed Wal-Mart Expansion

Later in the meeting, one of City Hall's most reliable critics of Wal-Mart's race to the bottom, Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th Ward), went toe-to-toe with Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper yesterday over the mega-retailer's push to open additional stores in Chicago. The common refrain from pro-business groups like the Chamber has been that the South Side is lucky to attract any new jobs in this economy and that the community is starved for low-cost retailers.

Lyle isn't so sure. "We have been taught as a people in the past 20 or 30 years that we're just consumers and all we should be looking for is the lowest price. But we're not just consumers," she said. "We're citizens, we're parents, and hopefully, we're taxpayers ... While I want the lowest price, I don't want to do it at a cost of impoverishing my neighbor." Listen:

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Lyle's remarks came after several other aldermen questioned Roper about Wal-Mart without bringing up the issue of wages.

Keeping The DREAM Act Alive

Yesterday, aldermen reaffirmed their support for Sen. Dick Durbin's DREAM Act by handily passing a resolution (by a 49 -1 vote) that calls on Congress to create a path to citizenship for young adults who've spent most of their lives in the U.S. The plight of Rigoberto Padilla -- an honor student from the University of Illinois at Chicago who is scheduled for deportation next month based on a misdemeanor DUI offense -- has become a prime example of the need for comprehensive immigration reform. With Congress poised to act next year, aldermen are calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt the deportation of students like Padilla who would be eligible for legal status under Durbin's measure. Alds. George Cardenas (12th Ward), Manny Flores (1st Ward), Ricardo Muñoz (22nd Ward), Danny Solis (25th Ward), and Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) took the lead on the resolution (Ald. Jim Balcer cast the sole "no" vote).

Here's what the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) had to say following the roll call:

The plight of Rigo, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), illustrates what is wrong with current immigration laws. He came to Chicago at age 6, and has lived in Chicago most of his 21 years. During this time, Rigo has been deeply involved in the community, volunteering, studying, working and in general making Chicago a better place. Nevertheless, he is scheduled for deportation on December 16.

More than 400,000 immigrants have been deported in the past year, with damaging consequences for countless communities. Rigo is a great kid, an outstanding student, a hardworking young man with many aspirations and dreams to become better and to contribute more to this country, the country he calls home. The passage of this resolution is a symbolic action that sends a very powerful message to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and DHS: we cannot allow more lives to be destroyed by an unfair, outdated immigration system that doesn’t reflect our values as a country of opportunity and fairness.

More Transparency From The Police Board?

The Chicago Justice Project (CJP) made a splash last month when it released a report questioning why the city's Police Review Board -- the last line of defense for police accountability -- is so reluctant to fire wayward police officers. Despite the police superintendent's own recommendation to cut certain officers loose, CJP found that the board inexplicably kept 63 percent of those officers on the payroll.

Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd Ward) responded yesterday by introducing an ordinance that would require the board to better explain those decisions. The Sun-Times explains:

Fioretti is proposing that board members’ individual votes on officers’ disciplinary cases be posted within two business days on the Chicago Police Board’s Web site and stay online for at least two years. He also is proposing that all findings and decisions — including an explanation of the reasoning behind them and a rationale for dissenting votes — be posted online for two years, too.

Under Fioretti's measure, board members -- nearly half of whom skipped 30 percent or more of the monthly meetings -- would also see their annual stipends cut. Term limits would also be imposed so board members could only serve consecutive five-year terms. “CJP fully endorses these ordinance revisions,” writes executive director Tracy Siska.

Small Business Owners Stand Up To Giant Insurance Lobby

Adam Doster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:32:48 -0800

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) kicked off its annual conference in Chicago this morning and health care reform is sure to be a major topic of discussion. Just over two weeks ago, AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni said her organization -- the nation's top health insurance lobby -- was "concerned" that the recently-passed House bill will increase health care costs for families and employers across the country and "significantly disrupt" coverage for millions more. This came after Ignagni's months of lip service to Democratic leaders about her support for their broad proposal. The group even commissioned a study to back up its conclusions about the bill, but the findings were largely dismissed for shoddy math and effectively refuted by the Congressional Budget Office's analysis.

Today, eight small business owners affiliated with the Main Street Alliance showed up at the conference with a simple question for Ignagni: Why is AHIP attempting to maintain the status quo? After sending a letter Friday requesting a meeting, the entrepreneurs were not surprisingly rebuffed. Instead, they appeared outside the conference, where they explained, one-by-one, how the exploding cost of health care premiums was making it difficult to operate profitably. Watch some excerpts:

Following the press event, the business owners took to the streets, joining hundreds of their friends and allies -- including numerous labor leaders and reform advocates -- in a protest across the street from the conference.

The crowd heard from Tom Balanoff of the SEIU Illinois State Council (which sponsors this website), Henry Tamarin of UNITE-HERE Local 1, Roberta Lynch of AFSCME Council 31, as well as former Cigna executive Wendell Potter, who characterized the current health care system as "a Wall Street Health Care takeover," (a similar sentiment to the one he expressed before a House subcommittee hearing this June).

This isn't the only reform-related event on the schedule this week in Illinois. Tomorrow, the Campaign for Better Health Care kicks off its annual conference with a debate between Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic challenger Dan Hynes. Check back Thursday morning for our coverage.

Study Criticizes Top-Down Coverage Of Living Wage Debate

Angela Caputo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:52:31 -0800

Amid reports about Wal-Mart's renewed effort to move back into Chicago, editorial boards and local media figures resorted to a familiar refrain: that people in low-income communities should simply be grateful for any new jobs. Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st Ward) has also pushed the argument that Wal-Mart's poverty wages are perfectly sufficient, despite the fact that he is one of several aldermen who refused to take unpaid furlough days from his $110,000 (part-time) job, claiming at the time: "I can't afford it." The hypocrisy is staggering. But don't hold your breath waiting for the local media call him out on it.

Just as the debate resumes over whether to allow Wal-Mart to expand in the city, the Grassroots Collaborative has released an analysis (PDF) of newspaper coverage during the thick of the historic big box living wage fight back in 2006. They found that the coverage largely excluded the perspective of people directly impacted by a potential Wal-Mart expansion: politicians and business leaders made up 75 percent of the 380 quotes identified in the study, while community groups and residents had only a 6 percent say. More from the report:

The most frequent frames to characterize the Living Wage debate focused on its potential negative effects. Other common frames discussed the ordinance as a political power-play between city and labor leaders. These frames would leave readers with the impression that the living wage was an idea manufactured and pushed exclusively by union leaders, unsupported by or unimportant to ordinary working people and met with unified predictions of economic doom from the business community and city officials.

As we've pointed out before, the living wage fight isn't is about families' financial security and good public policy. One advocate opposed to Wal-Mart's race to the bottom is the Illinois Hunger Coalition's Diane Doherty. "Too many of our people who are working are hungry," she told us earlier this fall. And as more working-poor people are tipped into government programs, such as food stamps (where enrollment continues to surge) or Medidcaid, taxpayers end up subsidizing Wal-Mart's stinginess.

The report goes on to point out: "A reasonable standard of accuracy also requires that journalists try to report the most important costs and benefits of the policy to advocates, opponents, policy makers and those affected." Let's hope that local mainstream journalists see this an instructive critique.

Full disclosure: The Grassroots Collaborative includes to SEIU Local 73 and SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana. Progress Illinois is sponsored by the SEIU Illinois State Council.

Madigan Promotes "Tolerance, Fundamental Equality" On Capitol Hill

Angela Caputo — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:07:40 -0800

Just one week after President Obama signed into law a measure that adds sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under hate crime statutes, gay rights advocates were back on Capitol Hill yesterday pushing for additional civil protections. Among them was Illinois' own Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who testified in favor of the recently reintroduced Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 1584), which would finally bar most workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

To the credit of state lawmakers, Illinois' own Human Rights Act was amended back in 2006 to include both sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under anti-discrimination laws. The fact that we are one of only 12 states to put such protections on the books underscores the need for a federal response, Madigan told the Senate's Education, Labor and Pension Committee. "Through the enactment of a statewide statute prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, Illinois has promoted tolerance, fundamental equality and the common humanity of all individuals in our state," Madigan said. "The benefits of such a message to the citizens of our state cannot be underestimated." Watch an excerpt from her testimony below:

Senate To Take Second Vote On Unemployment Benefits Extension

Adam Doster — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:49:27 -0800

Could this be the week that the Senate finally passes an unemployment benefits extension? Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) thinks so.

At about 4 p.m. CST today, the Senate will take its second cloture vote on H.R. 3548, which would provide an extra 14 weeks of unemployment assistance (and 20 weeks for those in states with unemployment rates above 8.5 percent) to workers who have already exhausted their benefits. Should 60 senators approve the final language, Democrats will have to wait an additional 30 hours before a final vote can be called. That means the upper chamber could approve a final version late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Reid expects them to do so:

After weeks of delays because of a fight with Republicans over amendments, Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, said he expects the Senate this week to approve an extra 14 weeks of unemployment aid for those who have exhausted their benefits. People out of work in states where the unemployment rate is more than 8.5 percent would get up to 20 weeks.

“We have a million people – one million people – who are eligible for this,” Mr. Reid said.

Two amendments will also be considered, including an extension of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that is scheduled to expire at the end of the month. We'll be updating this post later in the day with the roll call, as well as any other updates from the Senate floor.

UPDATE (4:43 PM): The Senate approved a cloture vote by an 85-2 margin tonight. Our post on that roll call is here.

Chicago Charter Teachers Ratify First Labor Contract

Angela Caputo — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:52:10 -0700

Chicago International Charter Schools (CICS) teachers made history last summer by becoming the first charter school employees to unionize in Chicago. Today, they made it official and ratified their first contract. Teachers at three of CICS' Civitas campuses -- Ralph Ellison, Northtown Academy, and Wrightwood -- have struck a three-year deal. Among the contract highlights are a commitment to cap classroom sizes at 29 and to formalize community and teacher input. Also, the 140 Civitas teachers will see their wages increase over the next three years, their evaluations will be standardized, and staff will have due process in disciplinary or dismissal cases. (Catalyst has a more detailed run-down here.)

When the General Assembly lifted the state's charter cap last June, they cleared the way to doubling the number of outsourced public schools. While Civitas' landmark contract is limited to only three of the dozens of charter schools in Chicago, the expectations for transparency and public input in these institutions -- which rely almost exclusively on tax dollars -- are certain to set a new tone. As Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, sees it, the agreement is a key step in keeping innovation, not cost cutting, as the driver of the privatization model. More from her statement:

This contract is a great example of how charter schools can be incubators for innovative reforms and good labor-management practices,” Weingarten said. “Civitas teachers are walking the education-reform walk by forging a new path for charter schools that value collaboration.

With elected officials making clear that they have scant interest in making these schools more accountable to the public, it's encouraging to see the teachers step up.

GOP Sets Up More Roadblocks To Unemployment Benefits Extension

Adam Doster — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:09:52 -0700

Almost two days after the H.R. 3548 survived its first cloture vote, there has been no major movement on the bill that would extend unemployment insurance for Americans who have exhausted their benefits. Why? Republicans keep throwing up new procedural barriers.

After reaching a bipartisan agreement to include an amendment extending the first-time homebuyer's tax credit, Senate Republicans agreed today to drop their efforts to weigh down the legislation with controversial amendments regarding ACORN and the E-Verify program. In exchange, they've turned to a new form of obstruction: demanding a vote on two new controversial amendments. The first would speed up the expiration date for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (a non-starter for Democrats who point out that a sunset date for the bank bailouts is already written into law). The second is yet another attempt to change to the way the extension is funded, by using "unspent" stimulus money, rather than the federal unemployment surtax, which amounts to 0.2 percent tax on the initial $7,000 of employees' wages.

As we've discussed before, funding an extension through the surtax is a sound strategy. After all, unemployment benefits have been extended so frequently over the past 30 years, many businesses have already budgeted for it. And it's not exactly a hefty expense, costing employers, on average, an extra $14 per employee annually. The GOP opposition is nothing more than petty politics.

Until those details can be ironed out, the legislation will stay lodged in the upper chamber. And every day that it does, another 350 Illinois families will exhaust their benefits.

Chicago Hotels Workers Authorize Starwood Strike

Adam Doster — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:10:04 -0700

The Congress Hotel employees have been striking for over six years. In the coming days, a huge batch of their fellow Chicago hotel workers may join them.

At 8 p.m. last night, employees at five area hotels run by the Starwood Chain -- the Westin Michigan Avenue, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, the W Lakeshore, the W, and the Tremont Hotel -- voted by an overwhelming majority to authorize a strike. The workers, represented by UNITE-HERE Local 1, are not walking out on the job just yet. But the vote gives union negotiators the green light to call a work stoppage or a boycott if contract negotiations don't progress, a major escalation in a campaign that's already featured a dramatic civil disobedience.

It's been eight weeks since UNITE-HERE's three-year contract covering workers at 30 downtown hotels expired and the two sides are still not close to reaching a compromise. Like their comrades at Hyatt -- one of the city's other big chains -- Starwood is claiming poverty, citing the recession as the reason they can't boost pay or benefits for its employees. Furthermore, in an attempt to cut costs, they are requesting that employees work 120 hours a month in order to qualify for health insurance, a move union officials say would disqualify almost half of their workers from coverage.

There's no doubt that the recession depressed tourism last year. But hotels seem to be on relatively sturdy financial ground; Starwood earned $40 million in profits this past quarter and $180 million over the first three quarters of 2009. And the industry rebounded nicely following the September 11 terrorist attacks, registering healthy growth between 2003-2007.

With the holiday season rapidly approaching, this is a decidedly bad time for hotels to suffer a walk-out. We'll be keeping tabs on the ongoing negotiations.

Chicago Hotel Workers Considering Major Strike

Adam Doster — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:45:46 -0700

Yesterday marked a solemn milestone for the service workers at the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago. For six years, four months, and 11 days, UNITE-HERE Local 1 members have walked their picket line in hopes of securing fair wages and benefits, marking the longest hotel strike in the nation's history. But apart from the Congress dispute, the specter of more work stoppages is hanging over the union and the 6,000 Chicago workers it represents across the city.

The three-year contract covering UNITE-HERE Local 1 workers at 30 downtown hotels expired on August 31. In the seven weeks since, despite intense pressure from the labor community and its advocates, union negotiators told the Tribune that little progress has been made. "Things have gotten really bad," said Annemarie Strassel, spokesperson for Local 1. "I think that employers see the bad economy as an opportunity to ram through proposals."

Yesterday afternoon, members of Local 1 marched up and down Michigan Avenue, stopping at the Congress, the Hilton, the Blackstone (where the local and the roughly 200 workers it represents have been negotiating a contract for months) to demand that the city's workers are treated fairly.

The crux of the dispute centers on health benefits and overtime. Hyatt -- one of the city's three biggest chains, a publicly-traded company, and a market trendsetter -- is asking that employees work 120 hours a month in order to qualify for health insurance. But because of the way employee hours are scheduled, the union says the move would disqualify almost half of their workers from coverage. Meanwhile, shrinking industry profits in 2008 have prompted hotels across Chicagoland to simultaneously trim their workforces while increasing overtime for those still employed. (Watch veteran Hyatt employee Francine Jones talk about the stress these extra hours are putting on her and her family here.)

Due to the stalled talks, workers at five hotels will take a drastic step today and vote on whether to authorize a strike. The results will be released following a vote count Wednesday night. We'll be sure to provide an update when the tally becomes available.

ABA Showdown: Protestors Storm Wells Fargo

Josh Kalven — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:38:29 -0700

The Showdown in Chicago continues ... Via SEIU and National People's Action, here's some great video of a surprise rally that followed the Goldman Sachs protest we highlighted earlier. Many of those same demonstrators headed over to Wells Fargo's office building and gathered in the lobby, chanting: "Bailouts? No thanks! Bust up big banks!." When security finally escorted them from the premises, the crowd yelled in unison, "We'll be back! We'll be back!" Watch it:

During the subprime mortgage boom that led to the financial crisis, Wells Fargo was easily one of the worst actors. In recent months, several lawsuits filed across the country (including here in Illinois) have alleged that the bank targeted minority homeowners for high-interest mortgages while offering cheaper deals to white customers. Moreover, local unions have spent much of this year fighting Wells Fargo's efforts to cut off credit to companies like Hartmarx and Quad City Die Casting. In fact, the United Electrical Workers (who represent the Quad City employees) were on hand in Chicago today and can be seen briefly in the video above.

In other Showdown news, be sure to read the Nation's Esther Kaplan on the first evening of action.