The Village of Downers Grove is reporting on its website that Laborers’ District Council of Chicago, Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers and a consortium of local contractors have reached a tentative agreement.
Local 150 workers went on strike July 1, days before the scheduled closure of the Belmont crossing. That project is expected to resume shortly. The crossing is now scheduled to be closed from 5 a.m. Wednesday, July 28 to on or before 5 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 12.
“Work has resumed on several, but not all, Village projects,” according to the village website. Among the projects halted by the strike were the Washington and McCollum park stormwater retention projects, storm sewers along Benton Avenue and several resurfacing projects.
Local 150 members operate heavy machinery. At the time of the job action, the union said contractors are seeking too many concessions, including increased costs for health insurance. The union is not not seeking a net increase in pay, only increases to cover current health benefit costs, according to the union statement.
Local 150 members are expected to vote on the agreement at 6:30 p.m. today.
I am sure there are many American workers who would gladly take those jobs if those bums wont get back to work. They should be lucky to have a job!!
How many American workers would be able to operate heavy machinery? DGdude do you consider this an easy job?
Many Americans would like to take doctors job too, but that doesn’t mean that they would be able to. Yet their pay has increased several fold in the last thirty years.
What exactly makes these people bums? The fact that they don’t want to lose money now because of health insurance increases?
Two thumbs up, Not Sure.
I don’t know how or when union workers became “those bums”. They are your neighbors — trying to make a living just like you, DGdude.
what makes people’s attitudes bitter about striking workers, is that there are over 9mm people unemployed or under employed and the increase in wages for those that do have jobs, will only prevent those that don’t have jobs from getting them.
To me, it is a complete shameful way of exploiting a Trillion Dollar stimulus bill. But for the stimulus bill, most of those strikers wouldn’t be working either, but they strategically took full advantage of taxpayers. Yes, I too would like to pay less for my healthcare, but if I don’t show up for work, I get fired.
NOw, because the select few who are working will get paid more, contractors cannot afford to bring on more workers. And of course, now that it will cost more to redo each mile of road…less paving will get done each year.
I disagree with most of your statement, but let’s step back. Is your doctor also one of “those bums” because he must charge you more to cover the cost of malpractice insurance? Or do you blame the insurance industry?
I’m just saying, the people working in the construction industry are not at fault. It’s the industry itself, and includes the contractors who have way more ability to manipulate the economic stimulus monies to their own benefit.
I am more angry with corporate greed and the state of CEO salaries than I am of the guy making a living running a piece of heavy equipment.
Here, here, Linda. Corporate greed is one of my pet peeves and I wonder why so few express an opinion against it. How do corporate chieftains justify their paychecks, anyway, at the same time the peons are losing their jobs or seeing wages frozen and bennies cut? The very worst is when companies pay these people huge sums to fail — i.e. they leave the company with more goodies than most of use will earn in our entire career.
DGDAD – What do you do for a living?
Maybe if you and your co-workers formed a union you wouldn’t be controlled by your employer. Your employer, would by controlled by those who do the bulk of the work.
comparing laborers to doctors – not sure I would agree with the analogy. Hope you realize I am “dad not “dude” and I never referred to strikers as bums. I do disagree with striking for higher wages when so many others are out of work, and the wages are getting paid thru taxpayer dollars, mostly stimulus money which is trying to avert a depression in our economy.
Big bad companies, don’t provide people with jobs or make a profit. Bad company.
Sorry dad, that was my mistake – “dad” not “dude”
Did they have one of those inflatable Rats?!?! Love those..
I don’t think so. The Inflatable Rat Distributors & Inflators Union (IRDI) local 873 strike is still going on.
Linda and Elaine,
I watched an interview of Robert B. Reich, Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary, on CNBC about a year ago.
He argued that CEOs and other senior executives are worth the huge salaries, bonuses, and stock options that they receive.
His argument was that companies are far more difficult to run today than they were 30 or 40 years ago. The CEO position of a Fortune 500 company is no longer a 9-to-5 job.
(I can attest to the CEO’s job being a 9-to-5 postion in the 1970s. My father worked for a Fortune 50 company in Chicago. The CEO was usually on a train leaving Union Station at 5:30, and he was never on the inbound train leaving at 6:55.)
A CEO does a lot more traveling, works longer hours at the office, has to evaluate the business model and operations almost daily, and has to evaluate competitors from around the globe on a daily basis.
Also, CEOs are no longer faceless, with the internet and the likes of Bloomberg, CNBC, and Fox Business on cable.
And with immense amounts of information on the internet, shareholders and investment gurus can evaluate company performance in ways that were impossible 30 years ago.
I’m not saying that I agree 100% with Reich, but when someone who is not a cheerleader for corporate America defends CEO compensation, it does make you stop and think.
The thing that really gets me is that 30 or 40 years ago a CEO earned 6 times more than their average employee. Today, a CEO earns 33 times more than their average employee.
Of course the world is a different place than it was 30 years ago, but I have a difficult time with that kind of disparity.
@ Linda – agreed. How is that justified? People are quick to jump on policemen, firemen, teachers, construction workers and so on.
not only that, but in addition to that CEO, many organizations are hugely top-heavy with lots of redundant “vice presidents” reporting to other vice presidents who all also earn many many times more than the average employee. If you took a look at what everyone does, no way are they worth that much more.