Rahm is now privatizing city services to break Chicago unions.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is sending layoff notices to about 625 city of Chicago employees — and delaying 61 blocks of curb and gutter improvements and 76 blocks of sidewalk repairs — after union leaders didn’t agree to work-rule changes the mayor wants or offer alternate ways to cut costs by a deadline Friday.

The layoffs — which Emanuel said will save roughly $12 million — target 75 percent cut of the Chicago Department of Transportation’s “seasonal” workforce, as well as custodians at O’Hare Airport, Midway Airports and the city’s public libraries; and workers who run the city’s water-bill call center and manage city benefits.

The transportation department layoffs will be begin immediately. As a result, city curb and gutter repairs are being put off until next year.

Custodial services, benefits management and the water-bill call center will be privatized after 30- and 45-day layoff notices go out.
...

(Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge) Ramirez insisted there have been “no negotiations over work-rule changes — period” with local unions whose members would be impacted by those salary-shaving changes.
....

Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, agreed that neither the mayor nor his representatives have made any attempt to meet with his union to negotiate specific changes.

“If the mayor were serious ... he would have taken the appropriate measures to engage in such discussions. The fact that he has never done so is clear evidence that this attempt to blame union work rules for the city’s massive deficit is public relations gimmickry,” Bayer said a statement.

He added, “We are surprised and disappointed at Mayor Emanuel’s scattershot approach to the city’s budget shortfall. We are particularly disappointed that most of his bullets are aimed at frontline employees who do the real work of city government.”


http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/6525711-418/emanuel-sends-layoff-notices-to-city-workers-in-showdown-with-unions.html



H/T Matt Stoller via Twitter

On the first reply? patience, my friend.

With Bill Clinton allowing Phil Gramm to gut the funding for the IRS, and then passing Gramm's two monstrosities, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which set up the 2008 financial melt down, and then appointing Rahm to the board of Freddie Mac....no, I don't think it was ever easy to tell them apart.

I don't know what you're trying to say.:shrug:

Carter.

Bet the shoes aren't union-made either.

so long as there's profit to be sucked out.

Daley would have done the same thing, if he'd have thought of it first.

same as the old boss

Never allow a crisis to go to waste".

- Rahm Emmanuel

games, I think he'd look more like Chris Christie than Scott Walker.

nt

I like the smaller independent westerns like that. A good double bill would be "Open Range" and "Appaloosa". As to Rahm, the people who believe in unions would be in the "F**king Retard" class according to this shameless DLC adherent. Yes, it says a lot about Obama that Rahmbo was his first appointment.

No screwing around with the Costner character- "You the one who killed my friend"- attempt to answer- BOOM. Pretty cut and dry :)

:banghead:

He's certainly never acted like one.

That doesn't, however, mean he is anywhere near being a liberal.

the Democratic Party.

or provided a limited ceiling for those who weren't so.

That is why the DLC came to be, so that conservatives who were non WASP or of the male persuasion had a place to practice politics at higher levels.


That is one of the dangers of the "big tent," the Dem party ended up with those who wanted to be in the GOP but wouldn't get far as republicans. It is easy to see how it is no coincidence that most of these "New Dems" operate more like "Old Republicans" than classical mid XX century non-dixiecrat Democrats.

who believed in the value of labor unions and that the economy should be shaped to distribute benefits broadly to the many and not just incalculable riches to the few, who believed in environmental and workplace safety regulations, in regulations favoring the rights of consumers and savers, who favored campaign finance reform, electoral integrity reform, and who favored reproductive rights and equal pay for women, and civil rights for gays, Hispanics and African Americans -- wouldn't you want to infiltrate them into the Republican Party, if you could?

"Get ready America, there's a Third Way for you to get screwed"

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

The unions caved.

Gov. Cuomo also repaid the Koch Brothers' hugely generous campaign contribution by refusing to raise taxes on the wealthy - an idea that had big support in the state - to spare unions this pain.

Daley privatized everything he could think of. Emanuel is just finding a few more things.

What is the difference?

According to several here, if you don't support the Democrat, the Republicans will win! And if the Republicans win they may screw us.

The only difference I can see is that Democrats like Rahm Emanuel provide the KY where the Republicans don't. And in Rahm's case, I think the KY is for his benefit, not yours.

If I am getting screwed, I don't care what initial is by the persons name. Voting for these people is just like feeding a homeless animal, you will never get rid of them.

Deplorable.

:puke:

More importantly, in my eyes, they are not liberals/progressives.

I have no idea when this split occurred, but it has (apparently).


x(








OK... I kinda do know. Further comment would make this disappear.

but it's their party. They bought it while the rest of us were being suckered by their words and making excuses for their deeds.

that is up to us...

doing the same in NY and MA only reinforces the idea that there is no difference between dems and pukes......not even a dime's worth.

edit: Obama will be there soon with comfortable shoes to walk with the unions

And don't presume Rahm won because Chicagoans were asleep. This was engineered. The decent alternatives dropped out early on.

Absolutely. Anyone who would actually challenge the status quo will never raise enough money. Especially now, with CU. The grass roots will never be able to match corporate money. Especially since more & more of us have less & less. We are truly fucked.

paying attention knew who emanuel was and what he was planning.

And there were plenty of people here cheering his victory.

who knows what has really been going on --

We've had 50 years of out in the open rw violence -- which is the only way

the rw can rise --

but they wouldn't bother with a system for stealing elections?

Actually, I'd question every election back to Nixon/Humphrey --

I don't think there ever was a "Southern Strategy" -- there may have only been

computer steals?



:evilgrin:




PS: If you question the computers, you may be interested in this link --

Two journalists in Florida began investigating the odd computer results in the late 1960's

in Florida -- odd and unverifiable!

They wrote a book under contract -- you can read it here -- book is available for $3 here and there!


http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm

with few exceptions.

Da unions only built this country and we can't afford to be doing no building with deficits and tax cuts in a time of war and stuff.

:sarcasm: for lurking freepers, loyalty agents, and the culturally deprived.

www.wgntv.com/

: ( sad....

Then Again, the Democrats used to be pro-union. :(

Ok—I'd actually have been more surprised if he didn't pull some shit like this.

Maybe a city-wide general strike in response? What're the odds?

these "professional lefties" bring knives to gun fights. ;)

clearly he's totally co-opted.

Despicable. I hope he's a one termer. Chicagoans are pretty savvy and won't stand for his BS. Kick the fucker out.

Those who voted for him for the most part voted for him because they eat his neolib policies up with a spoon.

next?:puke:

is that the taxpayers (us common folks) will end up paying two to three hundred percent or more to cover for the contractors and other added costs once it gets imperative that it needs to get done.

Typical republican economics :shrug:

Just like his former boss.
SOOOO sick of fucking Republicans calling themselves Democrats...

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

a lot of the jobs that have been outsourced BUT with lower pay & lower benefits that enticed them overseas in the first place. They're all about stuffing more money into their own pockets in the name of profits, period.

Unions, the weeds in the corporate garden, fight for decent wages/benefits/working conditions, which trickles (hate that word) down to non-union jobs.

What a pathetic way to go after so many great Democratic presidents worked so hard to make this a great country for ALL. Greed has corroded this country's moral compass.

Frankly i see the cancer of corporatism eating our entire country and way of life. Sure there can be a few problems with unions and it's concept needs reinvented but at least they have never tried to eat a country whole, IE. Nazi's in Germany. Our biggest problem is our undereducated or misinformed public and who is really screwing who.

He promised to do so and walk the picket line as a candidate.

It's plain you never loved him or you wouldn't criticize his (former) right-hand man!

All that's happened lately reminds me of Catch-22:

'what's good for the syndicate (corporations) is good for America, and we all have a share!'

Just today I read here that those Lefties who dare criticize because the White House is not "Progressive enough" (hah!)
are (most probably, some definitely) racist.
Not only that, they are (probably) right-wing plants, and (probably) are PAID right-wing plants!

So now add (probable) antisemitism to Teh List.

Y'know: Ockham's Razor & all that jazz...
how could it be any other reason?

Isn't that what we've been hearing -- ??


:rofl:

I distinctly remember plenty of people defending him just a few days ago during the whole Hamsher/Norquist freak out.

"professional lefitists" fucking retarded and suggested liberals needed drug testing, so no I'm not surprised one bit by this. This was Obama's Chief of Staff. What is that saying again "Tell me the company you keep, and I'll tell you what you are"?

a vote for Rahm is a vote for the politics of the right.

Clap louder, dammit!

They will ALWAYS neglect maintenance and services in favor of increased profits for their shareholders.

elections are rigged. No sane person would vote for him to be mayor. He should be in prison for when he was on the board of Freddie and Fannie cooking the books for perks & bonuses.

the OTLers, Pavrovians or CCC responding to that fact.


Really, they do seem to fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum to me.




Hmmmmmmm?

eom

How long before services such as the cleaning of Target Lincoln Park or the paving of Belmont Street brought to you by Red Lobster deteriorate in the hands of unaccountable private tyrannies?

I wonder how a recall works in Chicago?

:fistbump:

... The contract includes a requirement to maintain it for 15-20 years.

The quality of the road surfacing material is much more expensive, and superior, to materials used in this country, for this reason.

can get paid again to redo them. :mad:

a pain in the ass to deal with before just wait until you deal with an $8/hr employee with zero benefits to help you. It should streamline the "NO" process though I imagine.

a Democrat?

Another great "Democrat' by your definition. :eyes:

and now he's yours only. I'm so very sorry. I guess we should have just put him down a well.

not

:grr:

rat bastard.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but a number of years ago I had an experience with Chicago unions that was downright ridiculous.

I was working for a small start up and we had a booth at one of those large tech conventions. The morning of the second day we had a power strip blow out, so my boss sends me to run to the store and pick up a replacement. I buy one and start walking back to our booth, but I'm stopped by a union guy at the entrance to the convention floor. He tells me that I can't carry the power strip to our booth because union rules stipulate that all equipment must carried to the floor by union personnel. Keep in mind this is a power strip that weighs about 3 pounds max, so it's not as if I'm in danger of having my back thrown out in the process. I have to wait an hour and a half for some union guy to show up so he can carry this 3 pound item 500 feet. In the meantime, a small company on a tight budget that has shelled out tens of thousands dollars for a booth cannot demo its product.

Now I don't know if things have changed since then (I think it was 1994), but if this sort of thing is still typical in Chicago I can't blame Emanuel for pushing through some changes.

Where are the "changes" for out of control corporations?

Which is the real threat?

Yes, I know. But I'm from Texas and we get the crap for supplying so many bad pols. Look at what has come from Chicago and the University of Chicago.

biting the hand that feeds you (the ignored base); big mistake, Rahm.

that's richly deserved.

:evilgrin:

Rahm is a disgrace.

Not that he ever hid them.

-- excuse me -- "modify".

I DO believe we've been "had".

I knew this was going to happen. There is a reason why 90% of city employees voted against him.

:sarcasm:

:mad:

The very model of a New Democrat. And so reasonable.

He'll love the unions again at election time...

:grr:

Fuck everyone else!