80 City Traffic Aides Laid Off

CHICAGO (CBS) -- City Hall has laid off 80 full time traffic aides, as part of the budget cutbacks that Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced back in May.

City officials confirmed the latest layoffs to CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marshall Tuesday morning.

In total, 97 positions and/or employees have been cut, for a savings of $2.3 million this year and $5 million next year. All the cuts are from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

The jobs are being taken from the Loop, and O'Hare and Midway international airports.

It will take four to six weeks to put the cuts into effect, officials say

The hundreds of part-time traffic aides will still be employed as needed.

With the layoffs, parking enforcement will now be handled by Department of Revenue workers, who have already been handling that responsibility in part. Also, due to the cutbacks, traffic aides will not provide blanket enforcement, but will instead only head to hot spots.

Last month, Emanuel warned of 625 layoffs among city employees, unless union leaders came up with $10 million in cost savings. Union leaders responded by offering ideas to save nearly $250 million per year, although $100 million of t he savings comes from the vague plan of a "full performance review."