Here's a brilliant idea - defer or give up your pay raises:
A pair of Chicago aldermen on Tuesday called on city library workers to give up pay raises so branch libraries can stay open six days a week.
The proposal came in a letter from Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, longtime chairman of the Finance Committee, and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, vice chairman of the Budget Committee.
“We think the public would be surprised to know — as we were — that all city AFSCME employees are receiving a 3.5 percent pay increase in 2012,” Burke and Reilly wrote in a letter to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer. Noting the tough economic times, the aldermen calculated the cost of the raises at $1.6 million.
And what exactly was that raise the aldercreatures voted themselves a little while back? 6%? And the raise for their staff? 5%? Evidently, shared sacrifice is a wonderful thing, as long as the aldercreatures aren't the ones bleeding.