The CTA this evening notified employees that it plans layoffs at the beginning of 2010, the train operators' union said.
The agency issued notices under the federal WARN Act, which requires employers to advise workers 60 days in advance of mass layoffs. In the past, the CTA has sent notices in instances when layoffs were possible, but not definite.
Union president Robert Kelly says the CTA is planning to lay off by "job classification seniority," which they claim violates a stipulation in the union contract that the last hired employee must be the first employee to be fired during layoffs. Read more...
Now that CTA passengers have escaped a 2010 fare increase, the union representing agency train operators is pitching an even sweeter deal for commuters: free rides.
In a public letter addressed to “The Citizens and Friends of Chicago,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Robert Kelly suggests the federal government provide a bailout to transportation riders by getting rid of fares for the month of January.
The government should compensate transit agencies for 150 percent of every standard fare riders would have paid, Kelly suggests. Read more...
The cost to ride CTA trains and buses won’t increase next year or the year after, but it comes at a hefty price: A number of service cuts and the elimination of 1,100 jobs.
The CTA board of directors approved its $1.27 billion 2010 budget today.
Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday pledged not to increase fares, but that means the CTA must tackle its budget problems elsewhere. Read more...
