The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Chicago's Streets and Sanitation commissioner is cracking the whip to reduce absenteeism that sidelines nearly one-third of all laborers every day.
With laborers working a shortened week to cut costs, Tom Byrne has told union leaders he no longer can afford to tolerate chronic absenteeism and still provide the housekeeping services Chicago taxpayers demand.
Who's the union that represents these government workers? The Sun-Times reports:
Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001, could not be reached for comment.
For those of you who don't know, Laborers Local 1001 isn't exactly your typical union local.
The Chicago Sun-Times explains:
For years, the City of Chicago's garbage collectors and pothole patchers served two masters:
Mayor Richard M. Daley. And the Roti family.
For decades, the Roti family has held extraordinary sway at City Hall. A key part of that clout was its control of a union that represents the city's unskilled laborers and had a long history of mob ties.
Bruno F. Caruso -- a grandson of family patriarch Bruno Roti Sr., identified by the FBI as an associate of Al Capone's -- ran Laborers' International Union Local 1001, which represented 3,500 city workers while Caruso was in power, mostly in two city departments -- Streets and Sanitation, and Transportation. They empty garbage cans, pave streets, fix potholes.
No wonder property
taxes are going up to fund Chicago's government. For more on why the
Justice Department filed a major RICO suit against Laborers' International Union Local 1001 and others.
