Updated 9:43 a.m., Aug. 29, 2017

Over 8,000 workers for airline support services companies at O’Hare and Midway Airports would receive a wage hike and new training as part of a new, proposed license agreement with the City of Chicago. The 30-page license agreement would force companies that provide food, cleaning, security, baggage handling and myriad of other services for the airlines to accept a labor peace agreement, as well as wage hikes.

Prescription drug price gouging is again on the Finance Committee’s agenda Tuesday. Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Ald. Sophia King’s (4) ordinance to require regular financial disclosures of drug prices to reveal dramatic spikes already had a subject matter hearing earlier this month, featuring supporters and representatives from the city’s Department of Public Health. Opponents are expected to speak at this meeting.

A series of city property sales, lease agreements are on planned for Tuesday’s Housing and Real Estate Committee meeting at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday in Room 201A.

Items on the docket include:

After months of negotiation, political threats and demonstrations, airport service workers and the contractors that employ them at O’Hare and Midway Airports are hailing a labor peace agreement [O2017-5553] that will be considered in a joint committee hearing Monday at 10:00 a.m. in Council chambers. The meeting of Aviation and Workforce Development Committees will take up an ordinance binding passenger service contractors to wage increases for nearly 8,000 airport employees, starting July 2018, and in perpetuity for any contractors doing business in Chicago airports.

SEIU Local 1, which negotiated the agreement on behalf of the workers, has been working to organize airline contractors that clean cabins, handle baggage, de-ice planes and push wheelchairs at the city’s airports for over two years. Those workers, they say, are often victims of wage theft and poor working conditions, leading to massive turnover.

The union’s organizing efforts were kicked up a notch this spring, when the union mailed flyers attacking Finance Chair Ed Burke (14), Aviation Chair Mike Zalewski (23) and Workforce Chair Pat O’Connor (40) as well as Ald. Tom Tunney (44), Ald. Marty Quinn (13) and Ald. Marge Laurino (40) for not supporting their organizing efforts. Then, in June, SEIU targeted O’Connor with six mail pieces in his city worker-heavy ward, denouncing him for his opposition to union organizing.

Earlier this year an ordinance with broad Council support was introduced, but it was referred to Rules Committee, where many ordinances go to die.

In addition to the labor peace component, the ordinance requires any subcontractors or sublicensees to pay their employees no less than $13.45 per hour for work under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. Increases are tied to the consumer price index. Tipped employees, like wheelchair attendants and skycaps, would be paid “no less than the minimum hourly wage set by the Minimum Wage Law for workers who receive Gratuities, plus an additional $1.00 per hour.” Tipped employees must be paid minimum wage, which is $8.25 per hour, but an employer may take credit for the employee's tips in an amount not to exceed 40% of the wages under Illinois law.

It also requires that licensees “establish a written training program to ensure that all employees are thoroughly trained and qualified to perform their job duties, including all applicable airport emergency preparedness, evacuation, and first aid procedures.”

Labor peace agreements are typically used to cover hotels, restaurants, casinos, and airports that either receive public funding or do business with a local municipality, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Under the written arrangement between a union and an employer, both sides agree to waive certain labor rights granted under federal law, such as the right to organize or go on strike, as long as the employer treats the workers as a collective bargaining unit, essentially giving them the ability to negotiate wages and benefits.

It was a strong week for Comm. Luis Arroyo Jr. (D-8), who got a $35,000 transfer in from Arroyo Open PAC, and an even stronger one for the Cook County Democratic Party, which accepted large transfers in from a number of committees for candidates who were slated earlier this month (including Sheriff Tom Dart, Assessor Joe Berrios, and MWRD Comm. Kari Steele, and several judicial candidates).  

While Illinois legislative leaders were keeping mum on the deal they forged on school funding, Mayor Rahm Emanuel took to the podium Thursday evening to trumpet Chicago’s gains in the deal, as well as a few details. Emanuel said legislative leaders plan to introduce a package similar to SB1, including a Chicago pension pick up and the same funding for the city as promised in SB1.

“That, and more,” crowed Emanuel.

Creating confusion near the end of the presser’s question and answer period, Emanuel was asked if Chicagoans should expect a property tax increase.  

“I think the answer is, I think that actually, we look at this a little...Yes,” Emanuel said, before briefly pausing, “but I also look at this slightly different, if I can add a perspective. I think they were hit hard a long time ago. When you’re paying for everyone else’s teachers’ pension and you don’t get anything back, and for the first time your money’s coming back to a 606 ZIP code, I think that’s a big step forward.”

After this outlet and others Tweeted last night that the statement was a “yes” to property taxes, Mayoral spokesperson Matt McGrath shot back, “Easy there. He was agreeing with the assessment that Chicagoans have stepped up to pay more in taxes. Listen to entire answer.”

Asked if he would deny there will be a property tax increase, McGrath responded, “I'd refer you to the first Q&A of the presser on that one. But if you'd rather parse words and tweets on a lovely night I can't stop you.”

The first question was “Does this include a property tax increase?” To which Emanuel provided neither a yes nor no.

Attorneys for the City of Chicago argue a lawsuit seeking federal oversight of the city’s police reform efforts lacks legal basis because the Chicago Police Department is already on the road to reform.

 

 

 

 

 



 

Autonomous car technology is decades away from being the industry standard, but Chicago aldermen fear waiting to regulate the industry would lead the city vulnerable.

For more than two hours Monday, members of a the City Council’s Finance and Transportation Committees discussed whether the city should proactively regulate autonomous vehicles, even as industry experts predict driverless cars won’t reach ubiquity until 2050 at the earliest. Finance Chair Ald. Ed Burke (14) called the meeting because he was concerned a state bill awaiting the governor’s signature would thwart the city’s efforts to locally regulate–or ban entirely–driverless vehicles on Chicago streets.

 

On Monday, the city is expected to file a motion to dismiss Campbell v. City of Chicago, a class action suit intended to force the city to enter into a consent decree and institute reforms to the Chicago Police Department.

A year-old ordinance that would make driverless cars illegal in Chicago is the subject of a joint Finance and Transportation Committee today, though a vote is uncertain.

On this week’s Aldercast from The Daily Line, Springfield editor Rae Hodge interviews State Sen. Sam McCann, the sole Republican vote to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto on SB1, the school funding bill. McCann said while SB1 isn't perfect, Rauner's veto would send downstate schools off a cliff. During a sit-down, McCann called Rauner’s veto a fairytale and said the governor is being dishonest about what the state can afford.

McCann has a fairly independent reputation, and says he's getting tired of "bloodthirsty" partisanship and the ideological litmus tests which've taken over Republican politics.

Got comments, questions or suggestions? Send us an email: [email protected].

Update, August 18, 2017: This post was updated to clarify the number of stores included in a report on sales after implementation of the beverage tax. 

Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is bankrolling more than $2 million in ads supporting Cook County’s sweetened beverage tax. Ads on radio, TV, and online will start running as soon as Friday. During his mayoral term and as a private citizen since, Bloomberg has spearheaded health initiatives. In his 12 years as mayor, New York was the first city to ban smoking at bars, the first to mandate public displays of calorie counts at fast food restaurants, the first to make trans fats illegal, and barred shops from displaying cigarettes at registers to deter minors from exposure.

Late last Saturday afternoon, Chris Vickery, a white hat computer hacker, notified Illinois elections officials that he had found the entire Chicago voter file unsecured on an Amazon Web Server.

By 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson says they were notified that 1.8 million records of Chicago voter files with additional identifying information, like driver’s licenses and partial social security numbers, were exposed to public access. According to a spokesperson, the file, maintained by contractor ES&S, was secured by 9:44 p.m. Saturday evening.

ES&S has not been able to determine for the Chicago Board of Elections how long that file was unsecured. The Board is now reviewing their contract with the company, said spokesperson Jim Allen.

Whether or not the file was accessed by anyone before Vickery gave notice to election officials is under investigation with a third party forensic analyst, Crowdstrike, contracted by ES&S, says Allen. The data, which included names, addresses, dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers, and in some cases, driver's license and state ID numbers, was provided to ES&S by the Board of Elections so the company could maintain electronic poll books and verify voters on election day.

“ES&S has liability for this, period. This is our file that they agreed to protect,” said Allen. “ES&S will be responsible for any expenses or notices that will go out to voters. This was a violation of the terms of the contract for voter identifying information. The contract explicitly calls for the contractor to keep that data secured, period.”

“We’re into election day registration, so we need to look for duplicates. We’re trying to protect the security of the entire voting franchise so no one can vote twice,” said Allen.

ES&S is the only outside organization that obtains detailed voter file information, says Allen. One other company accesses data “in house” on Chicago Board of Elections servers.

“They transfer a very limited amount of public information for the chipollworker.com–name, address, year of birth, not vote history,” said Allen. Chipollworker.com is used to register election judges and coordinators in Chicago.

Chris Vickery, Director of Research for cybersecurity company UpGuard, acts as a kind of “cybersecurity good guy” by searching the web for databases with unprotected information, and then notifying the companies and organizations about the breach.

ES&S is a national election systems company based in Omaha, Nebraska that provides data management services and voting machines. Their voting machines came under considerable scrutiny nationally for poor security following the 2016 election.

“We deeply regret that this happened. We cannot stress that enough,” said Allen.

At a meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday Ald. Michele Smith (43), a vocal critic of the Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) North Branch redevelopment plan, testified against the sale of the Department of Fleet and Facilities Management headquarters. The 18-acre parcel fronts the Chicago River to Sterling Bay.

Smith argued the sale was "short-sighted and misguided."

"This is irreplaceable, priceless riverfront land,” Smith testified, “It should be retained for the public, to serve the 300,000 citizens surrounding the corridor now and to serve the untold tens of thousands who will be moving into the rezoned areas and the adjacent areas." Last month Smith lodged the same criticism against the department during a vote last month to repeal the strict planned manufacturing zoning designation. 

The Chicago Plan Commission approved all but one item on their monthly agenda Thursday: a proposed Clayco project in Uptown was deferred. Representatives from the Department of Planning and Development also briefed those present on new reporting requirements now in effect for all planned development applications.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed an executive order Wednesday mandating developers document efforts to include minority and women-owned firms as subcontractors and hire locally.