Skyway Maintenance Workers Strike Against Agreement Terms
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Skyway maintenance workers are on strike, and no one appears to be speeding back to the bargaining table.
The strike began at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with pickets stationed outside of Skyway Concession's Michigan Avenue office. Operations on the Skyway were normal.
The Skyway Concession Company LLC claims its 11 maintenance workers were misled into striking and about agreement terms set since June. Operating Engineers Local 150 spokesman Ed Maher said the workers have had no contract since November and if anyone's being misleading, it's the Skyway, WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.
"The fact that the Skyway is saying that our strike is based on misleading information is simply false, Maher said. "As is their assertion that we reached an agreement."
Maher declined to be specific but said the terms Skyway Concession cites are not entirely correct. Those include a 50-cent hourly wage increase for current employees, additional hourly shift differential pay, increased contributions to each employee's retiree medical funds, an increase in vacation time accrual for first-year employees, payout for unused sick time at the end of each year and laundry service for employee uniforms.
Skyway Concession spokesperson Avis LaVellle said supervisory staff are performing their jobs.
As of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, there had been no problem requiring clean-up personnel.