Thursday, November 27, 2008

Aldermanic Staff Gets 5% Pay Raise

Next time you call the Alderman's office, make sure you congratulate her assistants on their 5% pay raise, at at time when everyone else is cutting back to make ends meet. Our thanks to Hugh at the "Broken Heart." Read the entire post here.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers!

20 comments:

  1. What am I thankful for today is UU and the many people who find and post information like this. There was a time that pay raises like this would have gone unnoticed for a long time but those days are over. How many city employees are being laid off? Valuable city positions are not being filled and needed police are not getting on the streets fast enough so that the people who make all the rules for the city can get a big raise with no accountability. 5-6% is a big raise these days and I am sorry they have to "Work hard" but don't most of us who want to keep our jobs? I wonder how many unpaid furlough days the alderman and her staff will be taking this year? My guess is NONE!

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  2. i don't think their salary is none of your business...

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  3. They are public employees. Paid for by tax dollars.

    It is our business. Just like it is our business to find the "techers" responsible for your use of language.

    Is that "none of your business" too?

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  4. This is the real issue we should be suing over - that aldermen can do whatever they want and have no accountability. I thought we had democracy in America - not in Chicago!

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  5. Does anyone know if the city publishes minutes from the meetings where the aldermen voted themselves/their staffs a pay raise?

    I don't have a problem with city staffers or aldermen being paid, but the real question is do they perform duties/activities that justify that pay?

    The real problem is that the aldermen staff usually engage in political activities during business hours, which has long been a hallmark of the machine.

    Does the aldermen produce a report detailing staff activities/accomplishments? Since this a civic occupation, northlan, it is indeed our business.

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  6. In Helen's defense (*cringe*), she did turn in documentation stating that she was going to turn down her own raise (a few other alderman, Smith incld., did the same).

    I'm not sure if that means she still won't get it, or what; but, I thought I'd toss that tid bit in.

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  7. In answer to the unpaid furlough days these employees are still subject to the same rules as other employees of the city - so the quess of none is wrong.

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  8. Aldermanic staff are required to take the unpaid days.

    In all fairness I'll give you some background on the 5% "raise". Aldermanic staff as well as other non-union city staffers have not received a cost of living adjustment in nearly 3 years. Normally the non-union folks get the same COLAs that that are in the union contracts but AFSCME has been out of contract for a while.

    This 5% is really the last three cost of living adjustments lumped together.

    Coming from someone who used to work in an aldermanic office, let me tell you that in most (not all) those people work hard and get paid peanuts.

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  9. I'm still puzzled by the post by 'northlan.textamerica.com'
    Huh?

    In any event.....I guess it takes money to come up with lines like 'this isn't your college campus sweetie....', so
    I guess the raise is justified.

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  10. Good to see that wielding baseball bats against constituents is still a growth industry in this town!

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  11. "Aldermanic staff are required to take the unpaid days."

    "In answer to the unpaid furlough days these employees are still subject to the same rules as other employees of the city ... "

    other employees did not get a 5% increase to make them whole

    It's good to be an alderman

    or an alderman's staff person

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  12. "... in an aldermanic office ... most (not all) those people work hard and get paid peanuts."

    doing what?

    Aldermen and their staffs work hard at everything except their duties as specified under law - they campaign for re-election 24/7

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  13. "Does anyone know if the city publishes minutes from the meetings where the aldermen voted themselves/their staffs a pay raise?"

    I can tell you that at the full City Counicl meeting at which the bedget was approved, there was no mention of the pay raises for the aldermen and their staffs

    I can tell you the Budget committee of the City Council held hearings at which each dept head defended their posts and salaries, but they held no hearings on aldermanic staffs

    if by minutes you mean a record of what was said, no, the City does not publish minutes of any meetings

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  14. Hugh wait until they update the 2009 payroll all non-union folks are getting the cost of living increases....

    Actually only those that make under $60k are getting it the ones over are not and that is citywide.

    It is hard to see that with all of the reductions but went until Better Gov updates their payroll site in 2009 you'll see.

    Saying that all aldermanic staff don't work and are simply electioneering is like saying all cops are rotten to the core... are some? Sure some of every workforce are scum just ask the Catholic Church...

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  15. oh, I get it, there's no story here, move along, automatic COL raises unrelated to job performance are the new normal, everyone gets one, they deserve it, they work so hard, they're overdo, ratta ratta

    what planet are you posting from?

    lotsa deserving folks are out of work

    dear readers: post here if you got a COL this year

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  16. Oct 15, 2008

    ...Mayor Daley told city leaders that this is "no ordinary year."

    "Our country's economy has slowed into a recession in the last year," Daley said. "Some people think it's a depression." ...

    Daley says he will have to lay off more than 900 city workers and eliminate nearly 1,350 vacant jobs.

    "These are tough times for everyone. Working together we [can], no, we will get through them," Daley said.

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  17. July 29, 2008

    Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says the city is facing a serious budget deficit, and he’s not ready to eliminate options when it comes to closing it ... he also says this is the worst economic downturn he’s seen in his entire time as Mayor.

    DALEY: This is a real crisis, I think when you look at what’s happened across states and now cities. It’s a major problem now.

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  18. November 13, 2008

    "Huge layoffs are coming in November and December. And next year, there's going to be (even more) huge layoffs," Daley told reporters after a city council meeting. ... It's going to have a huge effect upon all businesses relying off of one another. And for cities, counties and states, your revenue is going to keep coming down. -- Some of these local governments are going to be in jeopardy. They won't have enough money to (meet) their payroll. It's that serious."

    "Everybody's in the same boat in this economy. No one is outside the boat - except the federal government. There's no layoffs in the federal government. They print money."

    "unless everything hits a Depression. That word is dangerous to use. But this is going to be a very difficult economy. I keep saying it. It's very, very serious."

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  19. I'm not arguing with you Hugh.... yes they laid off about 700 after all the wheeling and dealing of the past 3 weeks.

    And of course these are tough times. What I am telling you is that every city employee making under $60k is getting a COLA of about 5% since they haven't had one in about 3 years not just those in the aldermanic offices. Take it from someone who has sat in many Budget hearings over the years that question was asked and answered on the first day with Bennett Johnson in the "hot seat". One alderman in particular asked about the COLA and how it applied and was sure to ask if it applied to his staff as well.

    It isn't magic or hocus pocus and it certainly isn't a performance bonus or anything extravegant.

    Not like last year when they more than doubled the aldermanic expense fund and allowed them to even use that money to hire another person...

    All I'm saying is that in the grand scheme of things this is nothing.

    There is a reason I no longer work for an alderman and it is hard for them to keep good people.... they don't pay well. Ever heard of the expression you get what you pay for?

    Sure some of the chiefs of staff make decent coin and some of the alderman with committee staff have a few overpaid folks but most of the rank and file folks in an aldermanic office aren't living the good life and in the offices that do a lot of work it isn't a 9 to 5 job with community meetings, events etc.

    This isn't Lehman Bros. cutting bonus checks as they take government money. If you delay it another two years the cost of living adjustment will be 7 or 8% they just base if off the most recent union contract.

    It isn't like a few aldermen slipped this into the budget you can stop quoting Daley this is HIS budget first and foremost, aldermen are left to haggle over the smallest of small points by the time it is released.

    What did they do this year? I think Tunney changed RPP sticker to be $30 instead of $25 and then slightly decreased the huge increase on daily passes....why? It was a "revenue neutral" move but 98% of his ward is residential permit parking and most of his folks buy daily passes.

    There was some weeping and gnashing of teeth over the waste hauler dumpster tax... it got tweaked a bit big deal.

    Everyting else passed about 98% as Daley first laid it out.

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  20. funny how Daley and his alder-creatures never mentioned these raises while they were hanging crepe in the weeks & months leading up to passage of the budget, let alone on the Council floor

    "We are in a serious crisis. If we don't pull together raises may be in jeopardy."

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