Teamsters Local 700 has scheduled a “contract meeting and possible strike vote” for 10 a.m. Sunday to protest the union’s displeasure with contracts talks with the city to replace a 10-year agreement that expired six months ago.

Local 700 represents 2,032 city employees, the biggest chunk of the city’s unionized workforce outside police officers and firefighters.

Members of Teamsters Local 700 drive garbage trucks and snowplows. They clear runways and taxiways at O’Hare and Midway Airports.

The decade-long contract that expired June 30 guaranteed city tradespeople the prevailing wage paid to their counterparts in private industry.

Employees in “non-prevailing wage rate classifications” received a compounded 26 percent pay raise over 10 years, plus supplemental “reporting pay, call-in pay and emergency call pay,” among other extras.

The contract also includes “break-in rates” that allow the city to pay “new career service and seasonal and pool motor truck drivers” at a rate equal to “80 percent of the prevailing wage for the first year of employment and 90 percent for the second year.”

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley has been widely criticized for signing off on the agreement to guarantee labor peace through the 2016 Summer Olympic Games that ultimately went to Rio de Janeiro.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/union-representing-snow-plow-garbage-truck-drivers-sets-strike-vote-for-sunday/



Look, their work is valuable and instrumental for Chicago to function. But, dude, party is over. Go work in private industry if you think the proposed new contract terms are a screwjob.

Kirkwood=Union Buster

For these dopes? Absolutely.

These clowns definitely need a haircut when you have teachers scraping by.

For these dopes? Absolutely.

These clowns definitely need a haircut when you have teachers scraping by.

For these dopes? Absolutely.

These clowns definitely need a haircut when you have teachers scraping by.

I'm sure the city could find ~2,500 currently unemployed folks that are qualified for the jobs and would work for less than the 2,032 make now. Sorry Teamsters Local 700. Cry more.

while snowplowing is not brain surgery, it is definitely not easy and not something any schmuck can just take up and do without training/practice.

For these dopes? Absolutely.

These clowns definitely need a haircut when you have teachers scraping by.

There are tons of snow plow guys in chicagoland. Most construction guys, who drive trucks for a living, run snow plow businesses in the winter. Allows them to write off their trucks at tax deduction.

while snowplowing is not brain surgery, it is definitely not easy and not something any schmuck can just take up and do without training/practice.

Scraping by? A first year CPS teacher makes $50,000+.

The decade-long contract that expired June 30 guaranteed city tradespeople the prevailing wage paid to their counterparts in private industry

No one, qualified or not, can step into any job and do it 100% on day one. I didn't mean to imply that.

while snowplowing is not brain surgery, it is definitely not easy and not something any schmuck can just take up and do without training/practice.

Except you in a mlb front office .

Not bad for 9 months.

Does that "prevailing wage" include pension benefits? The argument for public-worker pensions has always been that they work for LESS than private workers (which is dubious).

I wouldn't say that. Teaching is a full-time job. I'm not jumping on with union busting here. But to say that teachers are "scraping by" is more than an exaggeration. A $50,000 per year starting salary is quite good for all but the most specialized skilled jobs. If all the best paying jobs are City jobs, where does the money come from? I guess you tax the shit out of everybody and those who don't have City jobs flee to the Sun Belt. Doesn't seem like much of a long term strategy.

I wouldn't say that. Teaching is a full-time job. I'm not jumping on with union busting here. But to say that teachers are "scraping by" is more than an exaggeration. A $50,000 per year starting salary is quite good for all but the most specialized skilled jobs. If all the best paying jobs are City jobs, where does the money come from? I guess you tax the shit out of everybody and those who don't have City jobs flee to the Sun Belt. Doesn't seem like much of a long term strategy.

Fair enough, scraping by was a poor choice of words. Rather, since residents are going to continue to get assfucked with taxes then I'd rather the money pay for teachers and education rather than garbage truck and plow drivers.