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Robbins Police Officers Set To Return To Work After Not Showing Up To Protest Working Conditions

ROBBINS, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in south suburban Robbins will be returning to work Tuesday after many called out and did not show up for their shifts in a protest against poor working conditions.

Detective Cmdr. Hurman Mathus told CBS 2 that all officers will be returning to work on Tuesday. He said the police chief had agreed to purchase new protective vests, and the department brass is willing to open formal lines of communication until officers can get into union contract negotiations.

Robbins village spokesman Sean Howard said in a statement that the officers will return to work at 7 a.m. He said the amount of money given to the police union for bulletproof vests is not known, but it was a contingent that the officers get the vests before returning to the job.

Legally, officers aren't allowed to go on strike, so they instead staged a walkout instead that had begun weekend.

Out of the 14 police officers, at least 10 had not been showing up. Officers said they felt underpaid, under-resourced, and overworked.

"We want the village to understand we all stand in solidarity with each other; that we're not going to continue to give our all, and the village is ignoring us gives us nothing," Mathus told CBS 2's Marissa Parra on Saturday.

During the call-out Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant issued a letter to community members assuring them they would not be without emergency services as surrounding agencies, like the Cook County sheriff's Office, helped out.

Howard noted that Bryant is newly in office as mayor, said is the first mayor to sit down with the police union in five years.

Robbins will swear in a new police chief Tuesday night.

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