February 4, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporters Chicago Sun Times
The HeavyWeight Thugs
“CFL President Dennis Gannon said his primary goal is to elect labor-friendly aldermen in six wards viewed as "Tier One" challenges: the 3rd, 12th, 16th, 25th, 42nd and 50th. All have aldermen who either opposed the big-box ordinance or crossed over to help Daley sustain his veto.
The 7th, 21st, 37th and 43rd and 15th, an open seat, are considered "Tier Two" wards with less union money and manpower allocated.
'We're after some respect'
"We're doing more in this election cycle than I've ever seen in my tenure here," Gannon said. "Local labor leaders are engaging their members to walk precincts and do phone banks. ... In the 12th Ward alone, we've got over 150 people walking the precinct."
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Well, well, I guess this union man thinks he has Ward 49 in his pocket. There's no need to pressure the thriving new business corridors created in the past 16 years because there aren't many. Oh, I forgot, the partly filled Gateway Mall. Drag your sorry 150 non-resident thugs to pressure taxpaying voters to 'see it your way'. Sound familiar? Ship in the 'outsider thugs' to campaign for the union's choice.
It is just as familiar as aldermen calling the inspectors on business owners or citizens who don’t support them. Or how about the high school mentality of stealing all the opponents signs in the middle of the night? Old-fashioned politics with a clear intent to hurt and do damage. Ask people in Bernie’s Ward, ask people in Joe and Helen’s Wards. Is this legal? Of course not, but who the hell is in City Hall ‘championing protective fair pre-election ordinances and laws’?
And, speaking of Schiller
What a ‘progressive mentality toward her constituents’ to make such alleged remarks: Uptown ain't Lincoln Park, a neighborhood where Ald. Helen Shiller, 46th, has often been accused of telling ward residents to move to when they complain about vagrants, Wilson Yard, high-crime pockets and blocks of shuttered storefronts along North Broadway. Does this sound familiar of Ward 49? Protect slumlords and punish the real registered resident voters.
There's a lot of money to be made from the poor but no real plan to transition them out of the poverty state is there? No one is going to get a big box or union job if one can't read, can't do simple math, can't pass the urine test or can't show up on time and take orders. Sorry, all workers in America have to go through these procedures. We all suffer the same indiginities! Just tinkle in the cup or sit and whine.
Frankly, ward residents should move aldermen who resort to open and subliminal threats along to the private sector. Are you tired of feeling threatened yet?
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3 comments:
Whenever I get pissed at Labor I remind myself of Chicago's violent past regarding workers rights. The police, the government and the owner class used brutal methods to deny worker rights historically. I tend to give Labor "Thugs" as you call them, the benefit of the doubt.
Roxy
Good for you Roxy - as long as they're campaigning in their own back yard, not mine. The Machine Thugs put Stroger in - if you own a home, your property tax bill came out this week. If you rent, you'll no doubt see an increase.
Not to mention the thugs in Club 50 who don't know how to legislate a complete - from beginning to end, comprehensive, no cracks to fall through law. They know how, they just deliberately place those cracks so when taxpayers fall through they grab wallets and purses on your way down.
Yep, there are plenty of doubts, I agree.
Those who care about the rights of labor might be concerned with the reduction in pay and work hours being inflicted on city and county workers, including our assistant state's attorneys, who are already being paid a miserly salary to prosecute criminal cases.
These reductions in pay and layoffs are taking place while our aldermen are hiked to $118K a year and Stroger is handing out cushy, highly paid jobs to cronies.
As for labor 'rights', remember there's no point in talking about them if you're unemployed. I'm all for a nation-wide wage hike, but a city minum that is high relative to surrounding communities only has the effect of pushing jobs to the burbs. Even Joe Moore is not so obtuse he doesn't realize this.
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