Crossing Guards Ask To Stay Under Control Of Police Department
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some Chicago school crossing guards and their union have asked the City Council to reverse a decision transferring their oversight from the Police Department to the Officer of Emergency Management and Communications.
Victoria Sanchez has been a city crossing guard for 19 years, and she said it has been important to have the badge that identifies her as part of the Police Department.
"The authority, less gang fights, respect; the parents love us, so they tell the children to run up to us if there's any problem," she said.
Under the 2016 budget, the city shifted its 900 crossing guards from the Police Department to OEMC, starting July 16, according to Adam Rosen, spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents the crossing guards.
Rosen said the guards are worried they will not only lose their police badge, but be forced to work as traffic-control aides – a position with fewer job protections, lower pay, and variable shifts.
"The growing concern is in job erosion of making everyone a traffic control aide, and eliminating the crossing guard position," he said.
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He said the difference in pay between those two positions is a couple dollars an hour.
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said the Emanuel administration is making a mistake in shifting the crossing guards out of the Police Department.
"The authority that comes with a badge from Chicago Police Department that sits on the shoulders and lapels of these crossing guards is of utmost importance for our families, our parents, and our children," he said.
He and some other aldermen want the council to vote to transfer crossing guards back to the Police Department.
