Naperville Turns
Away from Rauner’s Turnaround. For Now.
At nearly ten o’clock this evening and after listening to
well over 30 outraged Naperville residents, one exasperated and tired Council
member reluctantly agreed that even the passage of their paired-down version of
Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda would be all too symbolic of a victory for Rauner’s
entire agenda, one which includes a direct attack on unions and collective
bargaining.
The Naperville version had carefully expunged the “whereas” positions
regarding collective bargaining and unfunded liabilities, but enough of the old
language remained to aggravate a strongly union audience, which made it clear
through various speakers their opposition to any of it.
“Empowerment zones,” speaker Dave Madsen cited, “are described by Rauner
in his State of the State speech as regions in which fair share, collective
bargaining, and unions can be avoided. Your dropping of the term ‘collective
bargaining’ does not drop the intent in the governor’s own stated
definition.” He went on to quote those
sections of the Governor's speech listing the effects of such zones. The entire speech by Dave Madsen can be found at Glen Brown's blog.
teacher/poet/musician
teacher/poet/musician
In fact, most if not all of the Council members in
Naperville seemed strangely unclear about any of the language in their own proposed, remaining ten
position points. When asked about what
empowerment zones were, they instead threw questions back to the speakers.
Various speakers, some still wearing their work clothes, proudly walked to the podium tutored them and the
audience.
One council member asked if “anyone could tell me what the
280 unfunded mandates are?” People in
the audience, realizing that the Council was looking at the adoption of a
resolution without knowing what it meant, were concerned and understandably
unsettled.
One articulate representative for union carpenters was asked
if he knew what Prevailing Wage meant.
He walked the members of the Naperville Council through the levels of
pay, which are set in Springfield, not local entities. He explained why various states had different
levels of Prevailing Wages. He educated
the Council on the arduous but necessary path to a level considered a qualified
professional carpentry. His answer
seemed illuminating for them.
In fact, his explanation was so lucid and comprehensible;
they even asked him to explain Illinois compensation for workers. (Again, these questions from a panel of a
City Council about to move a resolution regarding these terms, concepts, and
understandings – all of which could have significant impact on the people
before them and the citizens not in attendance.)
He explained the complicated but necessary determinations of
costs given for a loss of a finger, an arm (right vs. left), and an eye. He also explained what a traveling injury
might look like from the perspective of a worker asked to go to another job
site. Like an earlier lady at the podium, he reminded the Council these thresholds are set in Springfield, not on the local level. Many people urged the Council to let Springfield handle these issues.
Still unembarrassed, they asked the carpenter representative
if he knew what the 280 unfunded mandates were.
He threw his hands up and said, “Ask Rauner. He’s got a couple million to find the
answer.” Applause.
Additional citizens appeared, warning the outgoing Mayor
Pradel to avoid leaving this pathetic resolution as his legacy. Others warned the incoming mayor the passage
of such a resolution would besmirch his own leadership for his term in
office. Many more decried the continued
attack by characters like Rauner on the middle class.
“Why would you bring this forward as many of you prepare to
leave the Council? “Why this last minute
push to put this resolution through as our Mayor and many of you prepare to
retire from your positions? "Is this some
kind of lame-duck action about which you’ve given little if any thought?"
After the open forum
ended, two of the Council members described the phone messages they had
received from Rauner. The governor had called each of them and asked them to push forward his Turnaround Agenda in Naperville. One was eager to describe how the Governor
has no caller ID when he calls. The
other still had his message on his phone.
“But now,” said one of them, “I can see that we cannot pass
this without tacitly approving in appearance all of the agenda for Rauner.”
The incoming Mayor Chirico asked the resolution be tabled
indefinitely, but he added that he was looking forward to “helping the Governor
in some way to make Illinois great again.”
Promises to review the Turnaround Agenda at a later date were proposed
by many of the Council members. Chirico
added, “We might all have to sacrifice.”
Let "Illinois become great again" by starting this: stop spending so much of our tax money on the biggest corporations in the form of tax incentives, tax inversions, tax loopholes and hoarding obscene profits off-shore...maybe we'd have the funds for important things! Everything these companies and politicians do is to diminish the middle class!
ReplyDelete"Turn Around"? That's what the proctologist says.
ReplyDeleteThe growing revelations throughout the hearing that none of the City Council members had any understanding of what terms like "prevailing wage agreements, workers compensation claims," or "enforcement zones" should have left each and every Naperville neighbor scared to death. In fact, one of the Council members likened their lack of knowledge to legislators in Springfield being unable to read an entire 500 page bill before voting. Another said that he didn't know this was going to come up until just suddenly, although he later pointed out that he had been in communication with Rauner by phone. When the Council waffled - this after sternly reproaching the audience for being too noisy - people applauded them. Noisy, maybe? Forgiving, certainly. Foolish to trust this Council not to try again; I hope not.
ReplyDelete"One articulate representative for union carpenters was asked if he knew what Prevailing Wage meant. He walked the members of the Naperville Council through the levels of pay, which are set in Springfield, not local entities. He explained why various states had different levels of Prevailing Wages. He educated the Council on the arduous but necessary path to a level considered a qualified professional carpentry. His answer seemed illuminating for them": His name is Pat Richards from local 1889.
DeleteA few others to mentioned besides Pat Richards and David Madsen were Frank Furco, secretary for DuPage County Construction & Building Trades, and Diane McGuire.
ReplyDelete