Aldermen: Libraries Could Stay Open Mondays If Staff Passed Up Raises

January 11, 2012 7:02 AM

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CHICAGO (CBS) — Two Chicago aldermen have a proposal to end the dispute over the closing of the city’s public libraries on Mondays.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Conway reports, City Council Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) and Budget Committee Vice Chairman Brendan Reilly (42nd) are calling on Chicago Public Library employees to forgo a 3.5 percent salary increase they are scheduled to receive this year, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Conway reports

The aldermen say the raise will cost the city some $1.6 million – money that could instead be used to rehire most of the 176 employees who were recently laid off and keep the libraries open all day six days a week, the Tribune reported.

Burke and Reilly suggested the move in a letter to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents library workers, the Tribune reported. The union quickly said no.

Instead, AFSCME suggests canceling the plan to roll back the city’s head tax on jobs at larger companies, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, city officials continue to try to persuade the union to accept a 40-hour per week schedule that would keep the libraries open six days a week, but only for four hours on Mondays and Fridays.

The plan to close the libraries on Monday and Friday mornings when kids are in school was Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s stated plan during negotiations for his 2012 budget proposal.

But the mayor said the deal depended on an agreement with the union on more flexible hours, and because the union did not agree, the city had to close the libraries all day on Monday to save money.

Anders Lindall, a spokesman for AFSCME Council, acknowledged that the union is negotiating with the city. Buthe categorically denied that the union had forced the city’s hand.

“Whether a reduction in hours comes for four hours on two days a week or eight hours on one day is not acceptable to people of the city who want and deserve access to their libraries at all times. They shouldn’t be forced to accept reduced access,” Lindall said last week.

Aldermen: Libraries Could Stay Open Mondays If Staff Passed Up Raises

da truth,over by dere

why dont the aldermen give back some of their 6% raise they got two yrs ago?
GrammarCop

Amen to that, da truth. Same applies to our budget and spending problems at the federal level…in tough times, ALL citizens need to feel a bit of pain…INCLUDING POLITICIANS and all federal em0loyees who make more than they would otherwise in the private sector and in a similar job.
CFLC

Let’s first reduce the City Council to 25 Alderman from 50.
CantTakeItAnyMore

Typical Chicago cR@p! This article states that the give back by library employees would save 1.6 million and that would allow the libraries to stay open. ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!! That’s all it takes !!! And in our entire budget there isn’t 1.6 M that is being mis-spent on bloated salaries or a pet project or “entertainment” or a “farm study” or a fake street “resurfacing” or the ever popular “landscaping” of a public building, OR, OR, OR………… Give me 30 minutes with the city budget and I’ll find 2x that number in graft and corruption being spent. What about reducing the number of aldermen that this city has which is twice as much as any other big city per capita. BUT WAIT. I forgot. This is Chicago. Our answer to a 1.6 M shortfall is— (drum roll) CLOSE THE LIBRARIES !!!! This brilliant act of leadership is what we pay our “public servants” for.
tom Sharp

Totally agree with “Can’t…”

There is more than $1.6 million in waste in e very ward in this town (oh, and there are too many wards). Get real and fix this, Rahm. The 2nd of the lying “Education Mayors.”
Jerry

shut down city hall! They are worthless, a waste of space, and oxygen.
Jerry

Hey Rahm-a-dum-dum: here’s a taxing thought for you: since trees and other vegetation produce oxygen, and there are so many trees and much vegetation on land owned by the park district, why not TAX for OXYGEN CONSUMPTION??!! Neat, isn’t it? No need to thank me, myopic, one-term moron.
Just Axin

Close them all! We don’t need them! End the salaries, upkeep, etc. Thank you internet.
it’s all a JOKE and a BAD ONE at that…

Face it! We replaced a DUMB IRISH A$$**LE with a shifty-eyed arrogant Jewish one!
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/12/union-city-can-afford-to-maintain-library-hours/ Union: City Can Afford To Maintain Library Hours « CBS Chicago

[...] As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, scoffs at the aldermen’s request that unionized library workers forgo their expected raises to keep the libr… [...]
http://librarysite.info/union-city-can-afford-to-maintain-library-hours-%c2%ab-cbs-chicago Union: City Can Afford To Maintain Library Hours « CBS Chicago | The Library Site

[...] As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, scoffs at the aldermen’s request that unionized library workers forgo their expected raises to keep the libr… [...]
Joe

I don’t think ANYONE could be elected to the Chicago mayor’s office that would satisfy any of you people. You hated Daley, you hate Rahm, is their a person alive that would make you guys happy? I think not!