City of Chicago Forces Teamsters to Take Day Off Without Pay

News provided by

Mar 19, 2010, 02:43 ET

Water Management Workers Rally in Response to Unfair Labor Practices

CHICAGO, March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 100 workers forced to take a furlough day by the City of Chicago in violation of their contract rallied in opposition outside the Department of Water Management on Friday.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO)

As Water Management turned workers away, claiming a "lack of work," private contractors were being paid to perform Teamster duties.

Teamsters Local 700, which recently filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against the city, represents approximately 280 workers in the department. But Water Management employees are just one component of the thousands of Teamsters employed by the city, all of whom collectively authorized an unfair labor practice strike earlier this month.

Strike action by Local 700 could become necessary as the city continues to fail to honor its union contract and force workers to take furlough days.

"Rather than live up to the agreement it signed or join the Teamsters in federal mediation, the city has chosen to literally force workers off the job and into the streets," said William P. Logan, Local 700 Assistant Trustee. "Water Management employees expressed the frustration of so many workers in the City of Chicago today by standing up to these unfair labor practices."

The city has refused to participate in federal mediation to reconcile the labor charges filed on behalf of truck drivers and public employees. A reconciliation effort supported by the Teamsters was ignored by Chicago officials, who continually fail to process employee grievances while unilaterally reducing work hours for hundreds of employees.

"The city will continue to change the working conditions and terms of employment for thousands of workers unless we stand together to stop this injustice," said Logan. "Men and women who show up every single day expecting to perform an honest day's work should not be mistreated and turned away."

If the Illinois Labor Relations Board upholds the unfair labor practice charges filed by Local 700, the Teamsters can be permitted to take additional action in the near future, including the possibility of an unfair labor practice strike. Local 700 has advised members no action is to be taken without the union's express direction.

Teamsters currently serve the City of Chicago across several departments, including Water and Fleet Management, Streets and Sanitation, Transportation and Aviation.

Teamsters Local 700, an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, represents more than 13,000 public service employees throughout Illinois.

SOURCE Teamsters Joint Council 25