Mayor Rahm Emanuel said today he will send layoff notices to up to 625 city employees as he tries to close a $30 million budget hole.
Custodians, call center operators at the city's water department and seasonal workers at the Department of Transportation will be among those affected.
Emanuel said he will close the entire $30 million budget hole left by the expiration of a deal with City Hall labor unions for unpaid days off. The mayor previously had turned up the pressure on unions for concessions or cost-cutting ideas at a series of news conferences.
“It has been two weeks and despite ongoing talks between leaders of organized labor and my administration, none of the changes yet have been embraced or agreed upon,” Emanuel said today of the time he has given unions to close the gap.
The Chicago Federation of Labor said in a statement that union officials are perplexed by the layoff decision. They scheduled an afternoon news conference to respond.
Emanuel also laid out more work rule changes as he asks unions for savings.
Among those proposed changes, Emanuel suggested reducing the number of paid holidays from 12 to 9 to match other city trade employees.
He also said he's like to pay hoisting engineers different rates, based on the class of machines they are operating.
