March 26--Mayoral challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia joined the Chicago Teachers Union in a call for a $15 minimum wage for public schools employees and contractors on Wednesday, but did not say how the cash-strapped school district could pay for the expense.
The Garcia campaign event was held near CPS headquarters at Madison and Clark in the Loop and melded with a union rally where janitors whose contract is about to expire called for reinstatement of hundreds of custodians who were laid off and others moved to part time in October.
Garcia, who is running against Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the April 7 runoff, said every CPS employee and district subcontracted employee should "earn a living wage."
"I stand here today as someone who understands the plight of thousands and thousands of Chicagoans in Chicago neighborhoods who need to increase their wages," Garcia said. "They need to improve their wages so they can be better providers and take care of themselves so they can take better care of their families," he said.
Garcia, however, didn't specify how the district might pay for the wage hike.
"I'm standing here with workers who are earning as little as $10 an hour, saying that in order for the plight of Chicago neighborhoods to improve we need to raise those wages. That will be good for the employees, for their families and for their neighborhoods," said Garcia, who repeated his assertion that he could still represent taxpayers at the bargaining table as mayor even though the CTU is a driving force in his campaign.
The teachers union said it would request language in a developing labor agreement that would require CPS to pay district workers and union members a minimum of $15 an hour. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the union believes a number of subcontracted workers, including employees hired to provide for the district's Safe Passage program, do not make $15 an hour.
Going first at the rally were members of Service Employees International Union Local 1, who held up flags and signs that read, "Raise America with good jobs," and wore bright purple jackets while navigating construction outside the headquarters. They marched along West Madison Street chanting, "No part time."
Ina Davis, who has been cleaning for CPS for 19 years, said she's responsible for 72,000 square feet of hallway, 17 classrooms and 23 bathrooms.
"I want to clean your schools; you want your schools clean. Help me," Davis said. "I feel like I'm doing triple time."
Contracts for 12,000 custodians are set to expire April 5. With negotiations underway, SEIU Local 1 janitors are calling on Aramark, a company hired by CPS to employ the workers, to re-establish full-time hours for those in charge of keeping schools clean. After hours were cut from eight hours to four hours, the janitors were not replaced, said SEIU spokeswoman Izabela Miltko.
SEIU hopes to narrow what it described as a wage gap between janitors working downtown and in the suburbs. Downtown custodians' wages average $15.46, and suburban wages average $12.90, SEIU said earlier this month.
Of the 12,000 Chicago-area janitors affected by the current contract, 1,400 work for CPS, Miltko said. Nationwide, SEIU represents 131,800 janitors who all have contracts expiring in 2015 and 2016. Chicago is the first city to begin negotiating its contracts.
At about the same time, Emanuel appeared at a West Woodlawn coffee shop and ministries building to tout the expansion of the city's small business programs.
Emanuel, who participated in a roundtable discussion with Treasurer Kurt Summers, Ald. Willie Cochran and small business owners and lenders, announced that an additional $5 million would be made available to lend to qualified small businesses. The city also plans to open five new small business assistance centers in Chatham, Englewood, Woodlawn, Pilsen and Logan Square, he said, presenting the small business programs as directly benefiting Chicago's neighborhoods and minority-owned businesses.
"At the end of the day it's all about creating jobs throughout the city of Chicago and giving people economic opportunity," Emanuel said. "We got to make sure that our small businesses are participating in that growth."
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