CHICAGO: Transit Developments

[pip]

oh I know, its still a hell of a game though, and I think that the City/CTA are banking on union concessions otherwise 1000 layoffs is too huge for the union to accept.

[Taft]

Originally Posted by pip

oh I know, its still a hell of a game though, and I think that the City/CTA are banking on union concessions otherwise 1000 layoffs is too huge for the union to accept.

Hilkevitch wrote a column in the Trib on the subject this morning:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,880617.column

Interesting quotes:

Maybe another part of the reason is that the CTA's labor unions have for weeks been telling their members and anyone in the news media who will listen that the CTA is bluffing about plans to lay off more than 1,100 workers and slash bus and rail service to help trim a projected $300 million budget deficit.

...

Meanwhile, at the end of last week the CTA's unions stepped up an effort to attempt to negotiate in public and through the media with transit officials. The new strategy followed months of refusals by the unions to discuss salary freezes or unpaid furlough days, both of which belt-tightening measures have been imposed on non-union CTA employees to ease the budget deficit.

Darrell Jefferson, president of the bus drivers union, which has the most to lose with 1,000 of its members facing pink slips, indirectly offered up a vague plan to cut $80 million from the CTA budget. The plan purportedly includes some unpaid furlough days and deferred salary increases already set for 2011, on top of this year's 3.5 percent pay hike that the union refuses to forgo in exchange for an offer from CTA chairman Terry Peterson to reduce employee layoffs.

It's unclear how deferring next year's pay raise will help fix this year's budget crisis.

...

Heck of a standoff we've got here. Observation: the CTA management seems to have won all of the talking points here, fairly or unfairly. The story, in just about any outlet you read it from, is pretty uniform in how it is presented.

"CTA management has made cuts and asked for cuts from the unions. Unions refuse to budge and claim the management is still bloated. Unions offer 'deals' (which don't necessarily make a lot of sense) to the CTA management through the media, not at the bargaining table. CTA cuts loom as standoff continues."

Whether or not it is 100% factually correct, that's the story that's out there and it doesn't make the unions look very good. Not only are they screwed no matter how this plays out (layoffs or less layoff plus concessions), they are likely bombing in terms of public support. Not sure if they realize how badly they are losing the PR war yet...

[Mr Downtown]

But unions don't have to be subjected to popular vote. What does it matter if the public views them as intransigent jerks? Their voting members—except for the 1000 newest ones—got the deal of the century.

In poker, it doesn't really matter how likeable you are.

[Haworthia]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

But unions don't have to be subjected to popular vote. What does it matter if the public views them as intransigent jerks? Their voting members—except for the 1000 newest ones—got the deal of the century.

In poker, it doesn't really matter how likeable you are.

It matters because people in the state or region could turn against unions for the CTA or other state agencies. For example VivaLFuego posted this (#6355) on January 21st.

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

My understanding is that explicitly, no there's not a mandate to deal with a labor union per se, but...

No - they cannot prevent employees from "organizing."

Per the RTA Act:

Also of note:

In other words, said unelected "impartial arbitrator" has the power to de facto force either cuts to public services, increases in taxes, or some combination thereof.

That could come to a spectacular end. The popularity of unions is plummeting especially since the recession started and the automakers were bailed out. I could imagine a referendum on the 2010 (still time to do it I think) or 2012 ballot banning unions for transit organizations and other state agencies or at least repealing the above provisions. Then they would really be up a creek. You would have Chicagoans fed up. I have to imagine down state would be fine with an anti=union vote.

On amending the Illinois constitution by referendum:

SECTION 3. CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE FOR LEGISLATIVE ARTICLE
Amendments to Article IV of this Constitution may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least eight percent of the total votes cast for candidates for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election. Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV. A petition shall contain the text of the proposed amendment and the date of the general election at which the proposed amendment is to be submitted, shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than twenty-four months preceding that general election and shall be filed with the Secretary of State at least six months before that general election. The procedure for determining the validity and sufficiency of a petition shall be provided by law. If the petition is valid and sufficient, the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors at that general election and shall become effective if approved by either three-fifths of those voting on the amendment or a majority of those voting in the election.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.)

Article IV of the Illinois consitution covers legislative matters.

[the urban politician]

^ Couldn't agree more. The existence of unions, still, is at the behest of the Government who supports their existence and the need for agencies such as CTA to deal with them.

And the citizens of Illinois elect their Government.

[Mr Downtown]

I think it might be wishful thinking to expect an anti-union vote in the city of the Haymarket Incident. Just last year, the public employee unions—worried about their pensions—managed to bury a constitutional convention.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I think it might be wishful thinking to expect an anti-union vote in the city of the Haymarket Incident. Just last year, the public employee unions—worried about their pensions—managed to bury a constitutional convention.

^ I'm not talking about the city. I'm talking about the State.

[OhioGuy]

Mobile Garden Rail Car To Be Tacked on To Chicago Transit System

The Mobile Garden concept dreamed up by artist Joe Baldwin just got the thumbs up from the Chicago Transit Authority. The plan is to add some green space to the transit system by transforming a rail car into a mobile garden boasting greenery and native species. The car will help commuters "visualize the possibilities for enhancing green space in the city," as Hugh Bartling puts it.

[ardecila]

Oh boy... get ready for the empty Jay's bag and crushed beer bottle express...

[denizen467]

Good thing it has all that greenery. The extra pollution from hauling around a couple extra tons for no reason will help kill off plants in other places.

[Kngkyle]

Such a dumb idea. I hope they don't actually do it.

[jamesinclair]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Good thing it has all that greenery. The extra pollution from hauling around a couple extra tons for no reason will help kill off plants in other places.

I didnt realize the train was diesel powered and a garden car would weigh several tons.

[denizen467]

^ The bogeys alone (the steel wheels, the axles, the apparatus that the axles are attached to, etc.) probably reach a couple tons -- especially if they include braking equipment and the electrical equipment associated with that. Ditto for sod and its water content. Etcetera.

As for emissions, it sounds like you are suggesting that the electricity bought by CTA is mostly generated by wind, solar, or something else non-polluting. Sorry, but that is not the case.

[Nowhereman1280]

Yeah, that garden car is the dumbest thing ever. Its like someone found a way how to make mass transit un-green...

[Taft]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

But unions don't have to be subjected to popular vote. What does it matter if the public views them as intransigent jerks? Their voting members—except for the 1000 newest ones—got the deal of the century.

In poker, it doesn't really matter how likeable you are.

Well, let's put it this way: the main reason the unions have so power in this town is that they boost the electability of elected officials. Elected officials are willing to bend over backwards for groups that ensure they will be re-elected.

Given that, a) the number of employed union employees is shrinking by the day and b) general public sentiment is starting to turn against the unions, I think there is a fair case to be made that union support isn't what it used to be for politicians. To me, it is simply a question of where the tipping point is. When the union armies get small enough and public support is sufficiently eroded, it will just make political sense to abandon policies supporting unions. Whether and when that happens is the question.

[VivaLFuego]

Wait, the garden car was serious?

[ChicagoChicago]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

Mobile Garden Rail Car To Be Tacked on To Chicago Transit System

I'm curious to know how plants will survive in speeds of 50-60 mph, constant gforce shifts and as someone else pointed out,a target for trash. I could see a few people that just missed the train make a jump for it as well.Just last week I was on the #9 bus in the morning when a kid busted out the back door while we were doing about 25mph. He missed his school stop and knocked the door open and jumped.

[Segun]

I refuse to believe that rendering is not from The Onion.

[lawfin]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

Mobile Garden Rail Car To Be Tacked on To Chicago Transit System

This cannot be real...if it is it is outrageous.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by jamesinclair

I didnt realize the train was diesel powered and a garden car would weigh several tons.

The train of course isn't diesel, but even an electric trains carbon foorprint is tracked back to the source of energy production, and that is overwhelmingly emission belching coal fired power plants. See how it works?