Union Deal May Boost 2016 Bid

Union deal may boost 2016 bid
OLYMPIC GAMES | City, builders close in on long-term contract

July 26, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com
The Daley administration and 8,000 unionized members of the building trades are near agreement on a long-term contract that could bolster Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
Still unclear is whether the contract would extend through 2016 and, if so, under what terms. Even if it doesn't, it's certain to be longer than the traditional four-year deal -- and plenty long enough to demonstrate labor peace to an International Olympic Committee scheduled to choose a host city in 2009.

"It would seem to be very positive for the IOC," said Edward Hogan, an attorney representing the coalition of trade unions. "I don't know their decision-making criteria. But I do know it did come into play and the IOC did not like what happened in Athens. They literally didn't know whether they would be able to have the opening the week before the Games."

In Chicago, Hogan said the two sides are closing in on a deal that includes "some extremely unique provisions that will probably end up being a model for the nation." He refused to reveal specifics.

Other sources said the city would continue to pay its 8,000 tradespeople the prevailing wage paid to their counterparts in private industry.

Tom Villanova, president of the Chicago and Cook County Building and & Construction Trades Council, said the two sides "get closer each time we meet" and are "working toward" a long-term deal. Villanova engineered Daley's only labor endorsement in the 2007 mayoral election and is a member of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee.

The last time the building trades negotiated a new city contract, it took 28 frustrating months. Two years ago, they finally hammered out a concession-laden deal that included: 8 percent "break-in pay" for entry-level motor truck drivers and Streets and Sanitation laborers; an experimental workweek with four, 10-hour days to reduce overtime and no retroactive pay for roughly 1,100 retirees.