A group of the CTA’s smaller unions has reached a deal to save 38 employees’ jobs from budget cuts, but it won’t have any impact on the service cuts that took effect Sunday.
CTA President Richard Rodriguez announced the deal with the Craft Union Coalition at a press conference Monday, but neglected to elaborate on the terms of the agreement because it had not been approved by the unions’ membership yet.
The jobs saved represent a group of smaller unions doing non-operational work for the CTA, such as carpentry and general maintenance. Their layoffs have been rescinded until the coalition’s member unions can vote to approve the concessions. Read more...
The Chicago Transit Authority has rejected a last-minute overture from its unions estimated to save $80 million — enough to fill the lion’s share of the transit agency’s budget hole and stave off service cuts, the bus operators’ union said yesterday.
“We came prepared to do some things to save our members’ jobs, and hopefully save the Authority some money,” said Amalgamated Transit Union 241 President Darrell Jefferson. “Unfortunately, we’re probably further apart today."
The union offered to stagger its pay raise for next year until mid-2012 and to give members more unpaid “random days off,” which Jefferson argued are equivalent to the furlough days the CTA is asking for. Read more...
A Brown Line "L" train pulls into a station Credit: Alex Parker
Unions representing Chicago Transit Authority workers say they could consider a strike if the CTA breaks its contract by choosing which workers to layoff, rather than laying workers off by seniority.
Robert Kelly, president if the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, which represents “L” workers, told the Current there have been internal talks of a strike. Union members are expected to picket outside CTA headquarters Wednesday. Read more...
