Shift in Management creates issues for Cook County Custodians, Window Washers, and Elevator Operators

On Friday, March 18, Local 73 officials and site leaders met with James D’Amico, director of Facilities Management to discuss issues members are facing under the current contract. Below are the biggest issues we currently have with Facilities Management as we negotiate a new contract with Cook County.

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Editorial: Don’t blame unions for fiscal problems

From the Chicago Sun Times

It doesn’t matter how Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tries to spin his brutal actions in Madison. His sole goal, he keeps telling the public, was budget stabilization and fiscal sanity. But the result speaks for itself.

Walker knocked public employee unions to their knees last week and, along the way, joined the growing list of politicians who have branded public employees as the enemy.

It’s time to end the cheap blame game.

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Ohio Town Sees Public Job as Only Route to Middle Class

From the New York Times

Jodi and Ralph Taylor are public workers whose jobs as a janitor and a sewer manager cover life’s basics. They have moved out of a trailer into a house, do not have to rely on food stamps and sometimes even splurge for the spicy wing specials at the Courtside Bar and Grill.

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CPS/CPD Annual Meeting set for March 19

Local 73 members in the Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools bargaining units are invited to the annual membership meeting March 19.

Members will be able to hear the latest news from their division at the meeting, meet their union representatives, and more!

Park District members will also be able to vote on the furlough/shutdown day issue at the meeting as well.

WHEN: 9 a.m. Saturday, March 19
WHERE: Teamster City, 300 S. Ashland Ave.

Off-street parking is available south of the building.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry's statement on Wisconsin

SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement in response to the March 9 vote in the Wisconsin Senate on the Substitute Amendment to Special Session Assembly Bill 11 to strip public employees of their voice at work.

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Chicago Park District Shutdown/Furlough Day Voting

Faced with a budget shortfall for the 2011 budget, the Park District has explored all options to balance their budget. Based on the high percentage of Local 73 Park District employees, Local 73 members represent a $1.23 million budget deficit for the Park District this year.

To curb this deficit and avoid layoffs, the Union tentatively agreed to four system-wide shutdown days and four furlough days for all Park District employees, pending membership approval.

» Click for voting dates & times

Cook County Corporate Furlough/Shutdown voting results

On Thursday, March 3, and Friday, March 4, 2011, Local 73 members in the Cook County bargaining unit took a secret ballot vote at a number of locations to determine whether or not to accept 5 shut down days and 5 furlough days. This vote was necessary to avoid hundreds of layoffs throughout the county system.

The ballots were counted Friday evening and more than 85% of you said yes!

Our Brothers and Sisters in the Health and Hospitals System will be taking their vote at a later date.

Check back to the Local 73 web site and future flyers for voting information.

Anti-Union Measures Around the Country

From The New York Times

An increasingly heated national debate about the rights of union workers was stuck in a standoff Wednesday as Democratic lawmakers here and in Indiana stayed away from their Capitols to frustrate Republican efforts to vote on legislation that would undercut collective bargaining and the ability to organize.

» Read more on each state

Annual report now available online

The Local 73 2010 Annual Report is now available online!

Annual Report

Check your mailbox for a hard copy of the Annual Report as well.

Higher Education training class for Stewards and Activists

Do you want to have a more active role in your Union? Local 73 will hold three steward training sessions throughout 2011. We will teach you how to process grievances, hold labor management meetings, be an advocate in your workplace and much more!

The next training session will take place Saturday, April 30 at 9 a.m. at the Local 73 Chicago office, 300 S. Ashland Ave., Suite 302.

To sign up for a training session, call the Member Resource Center at 312.588.7630.

First Student members celebrate Black History Month

First Student members celebrated Black History Month with Local 73 at a luncheon February 17.

View photos

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Strike authorization approved at U of I

(Photo from The Daily Illini) Aaron Ammons, co-founder of Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice, holds a sign while protesting in front of the ARC to demand a fair bargain after a ‘no’ vote on the University’s proposed contract.

Food service workers voted 98% YES and building service 94% YES on January 27 to authorize the bargaining team to call a strike, several of the workers writing "HELL YES" on the ballot.

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Cook County members approve strike vote

Fed up after two years of negotiating, Local 73 Cook County members approved a strike authorization by a nearly 9:1 margin January 28.

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SEIU releases Cook County Health System report

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents more than 2,000 doctors, technicians and other support staff in the Cook County Hospital and Health System (CCHHS), released “Cut to the Bone,” a comprehensive analysis of CCHHS’s strategic plan and the 2011 CCHHS budget.

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WE ARE ONE: All-Illinois Week of Rallies for Workers' Rights!

During the week of April 4, we will hold rallies in cities all across Illinois, as well as community education and outreach events, culminating in an all-Illinois rally in downtown Chicago on Saturday, April 9.

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Chicago Park District shutdown/furlough day voting results

Chicago Park District employees represented by Service Employees International Union Local 73 have again shown their commitment to protecting the welfare of co-workers, preserving family supporting jobs, and maintaining quality park programs for the citizens of Chicago by voting by a three to one margin to accept four unpaid furlough days and for shut down days in exchange for a pledge of no layoff during FY2011.

In doing so, Union members avoided layoffs that would have brought widespread cuts in park services to Chicago neighborhoods, and hardship on working families.

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