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From the Chicago Daily Herald | Warrenville-based Navistar International Corp. said Friday that it will seek court orders to enforce a 1993 retiree health care agreement, which capped the company’s obligations at $1 billion.
Get the full story: dailyherald.com.
By Kathy Bergen | The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters filed suit Wednesday seeking
to halt implementation of a new state law aimed at overhauling
operations at McCormick Place.
The five-count complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago,
claims the new law’s imposition of work rules and conditions at the
convention center violates the federally protected rights of the
carpenters and their private employers to arrive at terms of employment
through collective bargaining. The new law also violates both the U.S.
and Illinois constitutions, the suit says.
William Hogan Jr. in a 1996 file photo. (Nancy Stone/Tribune)
By Ameet Sachdev |
William Hogan Jr., once Chicago’s most powerful Teamster, has reached a
settlement with federal prosecutors in New York to resolve criminal
contempt charges against him.
In 2007, Hogan was charged with contempt for, effectively, refusing to
stop associating with members of the union, from which he was expelled in 2002.
The charge was later amended to include an alleged violation arising
from Hogan’s 2007 employment by a business employing Teamster members.
By Kathy Bergen, John Byrne and Ray Long |
Gov. Pat Quinn issued an amendatory veto of the McCormick Place
overhaul legislation early this afternoon, sending it back to the
legislature with revisions that would give him more control over the
remake of convention center operations.
The measure, which faces a tough fight for survival, eliminates the
naming of Jim Reilly, currently chairman of the Regional Transportation
Authority, as trustee to oversee the restructuring of the convention
center operations. Instead, it would allow the governor, with consent
of the Senate, to appoint the trustee.
Hyatt hotel worker Larry Prier, a cook with 26 years at the Hyatt, yells into a microphone as he and other workers picket outside of the Chicago hotel on Wednesday. (José M. Osorio/Tribune)
By Julie Wernau
| Henry Tamarin, president of Unite Here Local 1, stood on the steps of the Stetson’s Chop House this morning and told Hyatt Regency workers they would return to work for now, but to hold on to their picket signs just in case.
“We are in the midst of a struggle that we are not going to solve in a few hours this morning,” Tamarin said through a megaphone.
More than 300 workers at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago walked off the job earlier this morning in a spontaneous work stoppage, saying that the hotel’s management barred union representatives from entering the building for more than a week. Tamarin said hotel management has refused to deal with the union, and another union representative said the union’s demands have not been met. More demonstrations are planned for the future and negotiations are continuing.
From The New York Times | Men are more likely to have jobs that require arriving early or leaving late from work, according to a study of surveys conducted by the U.S. Census in 1997, 2001 and 2004. The New York Times reviewed these surveys and found that only 32 percent of people at work at 7 a.m. were women, compared with 42 percent for the entire day. “The vast majority of workers perceive work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to be
more desirable than work during the off-hours, and many of the off-hours
workers are compensated with higher pay for the less desirable
schedule,” writes Casey B. Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago.
Get the full story: nytimes.com.
By Michael Oneal
| Tribune Co. plans to pay 35 of its top executives $14.9 million in additional 2009 bonuses, a court filing revealed late Monday, despite pointed opposition to the proposal from several key constituents in its 17-month-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
The company describes the bonuses, devised as two plans, as rewards for steering the company through bankruptcy court while generating total operating cash flow of $494 million in 2009.
The payments would supplement $42.1 million in management incentive bonuses the court allowed Tribune Co. to pay in February to approximately 670 managers, including most of the executives included in the most senior group.
Reuters | U.S. state governors working to close yawning deficits are again eyeing a tempting target — the billions of dollars in benefits and wage hikes that public workers won in boom times.
So far, they have achieved only limited success due to ironclad union contracts, federal and state constitutional protections and lawsuits filed by public workers and others.
The stakes are high. All 50 states have a collective $1 trillion shortfall in their retirement funds, says the Pew Center on the States in Washington.
Gov. Pat Quinn on May 9, 2010, at a Mother’s Day walk. Quinn told reporters today that he is still reluctant to sign the McCormick Place overhaul legislation. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen
| Gov. Pat Quinn took some oblique shots at political insider Jim Reilly
Monday as he explained why he remains undecided on whether to sign the
McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
The bill would name Reilly, currently the chairman of the Regional
Transportation Authority, as trustee with broad decision-making power
to oversee restructuring the Chicago convention center. Quinn said he
wanted to be sure the legislation had adequate checks and balances in
place.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center have left the Illinois Nurses Association to join National Nurses United.
Though the nurses ratified a new contract with the medical center last month, they plan to use the “clout” of the national union to reopen the pact to seek changes in staffing levels and shift work.
Read the full story: chicagobusiness.com
Demonstrators prepare to take part in a protest for British Airways’ cabin crew during the first day of a five-day strike at Heathrow Airport, May 24, 2010. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)
Reuters | British Airways cabin crews began a five-day strike
Monday after weekend talks on a long-running dispute over wages, job
cuts and working conditions broke down in acrimony.
The airline
said it planned to operate more than 60 percent of long-haul flights and
more than 50 percent of short-haul flights from London’s main Heathrow
Airport, allowing 70 percent of passengers to reach their destinations.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | New York-based brokerage MF Global Holdings, which has two offices in Chicago, said it will cut as much as 15% of its workforce, including Chicago employees.
Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com.
United CEO Glenn Tilton, left, and Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek in Chicago on May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Associated Press via Forbes | United and Continental named the executives who will oversee integration of the two airlines, which will begin early next month. The comments came Wednesday in regulatory filings and in a message to employees.
They said the integration process will be led by a steering committee of six executives, including Glenn Tilton, the CEO of United parent UAL Corp., and Jeff Smisek, the CEO of Continental. The other executives are chief financial officer Kathryn Mikells and chief administrative officer Pete McDonald from UAL, and CFO Zane Rowe and chief marketing officer Jim Compton of Continental Airlines.
Get the full story: United, Continental name execs to oversee deal.
From the Toledo Blade | The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Wilson Sporting Goods $37,800 for safety violations at its Ada, Ohio plant known for making the football used in the Super Bowl.
Get the full story: toledoblade.com
Associated Press | Ford Motor Co. will restore college tuition help for
factory workers as it tries to settle a dispute over benefits with the
United Auto Workers union.
The company notified union Vice President Bob King of the change in a
letter sent last week, and The Associated Press obtained a copy of the
letter. Union leaders were told of the move at a meeting on Thursday in
Chicago.
