Teamsters reject 10-yr. city pact (goodbye 2016 Summer Olympics?)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/536324,CST-FIN-union31.article

Teamsters reject 10-yr. city pact

August 31, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/[email protected]
There's a fly in the ointment that threatens to disturb Mayor Daley's carefully crafted plan to guarantee labor peace through the 2016 Summer Olympics.

By a vote of 279-172, Teamsters Local 726 voted Wednesday night to reject the unprecedented, 10-year deal that would lock in the prevailing wage for 8,000 members of the building trades.

The contract apparently fell victim to a power struggle within Local 726. The union represents 2,000 city employees, including truck drivers, equipment dispatchers, foremen, booters, garage attendants and cashiers.

Employees fighting to unseat the union's existing leadership team lobbied against the deal, arguing that it undermines seniority and opens the door for massive layoffs at a time when Daley's new 21st Century Commission is exploring the idea of privatizing garbage collection and the city's water filtration plants.

"We're all truck drivers. We always had citywide seniority. Now, they want to make it departmental seniority. If a guy has 30 years on with Streets and San and they decide to privatize sanitation, all those guys with all those years are gone," said truck driver Vincent Tenuto Jr., who lobbied against the contract and is among those hoping to unseat the union's executive board.

FULL story at link.

[LiberalFighter]

1. Boy did Daley figure the unions out. What a numbnut!