38 workers strike deal with CTA to keep jobs

A tentative deal that allows 38 Chicago Transit Authority maintenance workers to keep their jobs in return for concessions is a sign that other unions may be ready to cut a deal and get canceled buses back on the road, CTA chief Richard Rodriguez said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The railroad maintenance workers were among 1,057 workers laid off Sunday as part of cutbacks that saw 18 percent of bus services and nine percent of train services canceled.

They returned to work this
morning after agreeing in principle to "take some unpaid days" and to
defer scheduled pay increases, Rodriguez said. Though their return isn’t enough
to allow the CTA to reinstate canceled services, Rodriguez said the deal
"is a good sign that the union is willing to work with us."

But Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 241 president Darrell Jefferson, who represents 903 laid off bus
drivers, and ATU Local 308 president Robert Kelly, who represents L workers,
said they haven’t had a chance to study the deal the maintenance workers agreed
to.

"We’ll have to see
what the deal says and go and talk with our members first," Jefferson
said.

Further talks aren’t likely
until Wednesday at the earliest, they said. Jefferson said he needs reassurances
that "there won’t be another doomsday report in October 2010 like there
was in October 2009." Kelly added, "The tradesmen’s unions are going
to do what they’re going to do, but it has nothing to do with us."

The latest developments
came as commuters faced their first workday of reduced service on the L and CTA
buses today. CTA officials said more people had crowded onto some buses and
trains but reported "no major delays." Many commuters left for work
early, anticipating delays, Rodriguez said.

But twice as many workers
as normal appear to have had a case of the "blue flu," failing to
show up for work this morning, causing 30 extra buses to be cancelled, he said.

The CTA is still
negotiating with its unions in hopes of getting concessions to make up all or
part of what it says is a $95 million budget deficit that it blames on a
decline in tax revenues.

The service cutbacks took
effect starting Sunday. Nine express-bus routes were eliminated. Service on 41
other bus routes has been reduced. And there are now longer waits for all L
lines other than the Yellow Line/Skokie Swift.