How Many Chicago City Workers Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

[Ralph Wiggum]

How many city workers does it take to change a light bulb? Sounds like a joke right? But it’s not funny when it’s our tax dollars being wasted.  John Kapusciarz certainly wasn’t laughing at what he saw outside his window and contacted CBS2 investigator Pam Zekman.  “And the answer was?” Zekman asked.

“Three,” Kapusciarz said. “One to drive the truck, one actually to change the bulb and one to just sit down and do nothing.”

Kapusciarz called the city to report broken street lights in the alley behind the banquet hall he operates. When a city truck arrived to do the work he was stunned at what he saw.  The most annoying thing, Kapusciarz said, was that after they arrived one of the workers “pulls out a chair out of the passenger’s side and he sits down and I’m thinking, ‘What in the world, I’m paying for this,’ and I’m incensed.”  Kapusciarz took pictures with his camera and emailed them to CBS 2.  “It makes me very, very mad, because it’s my money that I’m paying in property taxes,” Kapusciarz said. “Where does this nonsense end.”

For years union rules have hand-cuffed city agencies regarding the number and function of employees assigned to a job site. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been talking about trying to get union concessions to help make things more efficient. It appears that Kapusciarz’s pictures could be exhibit A in that argument.  In this case, the driver, who makes $70,408 a year, only drives to the location. When someone is in the bucket, a second person is required on the ground for safety. They both make $84,968 a year.

-snip-

A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation said that sitting down and taking a break while on the job is against department guidelines and a further investigation of the matter might result in disciplinary action. He also said the agency is checking the crew’s schedule that day “to make sure the proper levels of productivity were achieved.”  A spokesman for the Chicago Federation of Labor said there are no current negotiations with the city to alter union work rules. The current labor contracts do not expire until 2017.

 

LINK

[Karin]

I can add nothing more than  , like you. 

[NHSparky]

Here's the issue--a lot of the safety regulations are driven not by the union, but by OSHA at the federal and state level as well as the COMPANY.

That being said, if I'm tasked as a safety observer, I'm not sitting on my ass at a folding table reading a friggin paper.

[docstew]

Typical union-hating corporatist type propaganda spread by the Right-wing Media. </DUmmy>

[CG6468]

Like former mayor Richard J. Daley said: "Chicago. The city that works."

Chicago is a bastion of unions, and whatever they want they get. We'll see how Rahm does in his position as mayor. He's already stepping on sacred toes. But I don't look for much...

[rich_t]

Here's the issue--a lot of the safety regulations are driven not by the union, but by OSHA at the federal and state level as well as the COMPANY.

That being said, if I'm tasked as a safety observer, I'm not sitting on my ass at a folding table reading a friggin paper.

I understand that, but there is no reason that the person driving the truck can't also act as the "safety" person on the ground.

[CG6468]

Here's the issue--a lot of the safety regulations are driven not by the union, but by OSHA at the federal and state level as well as the COMPANY.

That being said, if I'm tasked as a safety observer, I'm not sitting on my ass at a folding table reading a friggin paper.

This has been complained about the decades, Sparky. Nothing changes though.

[NHSparky]

I understand that, but there is no reason that the person driving the truck can't also act as the "safety" person on the ground.

I don't disagree.  No reason at all that a person can't fill the requirements of several positions and get a temporary upgrade if warranted.  We do that at our job all the time.

[thundley4]

I recently saw city workers patching small potholes on the roads here.  One guy driving the truck, one guy holding a sign directing traffic around the truck, and one guy using a shovel to fill the potholes and tamp the stuff down.  The truck had the big lighted arrow flashing on the top so the guy hold the sign was wasted manpower.  Since the driver was doing nothing, there was no reason to have more than one guy doing this job.

[rich_t]

I don't disagree.  No reason at all that a person can't fill the requirements of several positions and get a temporary upgrade if warranted.  We do that at our job all the time.

Many of us that work in the real non-union world often fill multiple requirements.  It's not like it all that hard or even special to do.  I know that my current job requires me to wear several hats.

I don't even know that an "upgrade" is warranted or needed.  But I guess that would depend on the positions in question.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Typical union-hating corporatist type propaganda spread by the Right-wing Media. </DUmmy>

If that man wasn't taking a break we'd all still be working in unsafe coal mines!</otherDUmmy>

[NHSparky]

Many of us that work in the real non-union world often fill multiple requirements.  It's not like it all that hard or even special to do.  I know that my current job requires me to wear several hats.

I don't even know that an "upgrade" is warranted or needed.  But I guess that would depend on the positions in question.

If I'm doing the job of an engineer or a supervisor, I should be compensated commensurate with what I'm doing.  JMO.  Same if I'm running a crew of contractors.

[Ptarmigan]

I notice unions are more common up north. OSHA is a real pain to deal with.

[rich_t]

If I'm doing the job of an engineer or a supervisor, I should be compensated commensurate with what I'm doing.  JMO.  Same if I'm running a crew of contractors.

I don't disagree about being paid for the work being done.  If you are performing the work of the next higher position or one of a higher technical ability on a regular basis of course you should be paid for it. 

I was thinking along the lines of this link.  The truck driver wouldn't necessarily need an upgrade to stay on the ground and act as a safety observer.