15% or We Strike!

A credible threat of a strike changes the entire tenor of negotiations:

• A possible strike Thursday by construction workers could stop road-building projects like the resurfacing of the Eisenhower Expressway.

  The leaders of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, and the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago and Vicinity say that nearly 15,000 union members will strike Thursday morning.

  The unions are seeking wage and benefit increases of fifteen percent over three years, while companies have offered a three and one-quarter percent hike, according to Dennis Culloton, spokesman for the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association, which represents local contractors.

And they waited right until the middle of road construction season. Can you imagine the irate calls to politicians across the state if workers leave torn up roads, one-lane bridges and construction bottlenecks in place with no visible progress being made? The script writes itself.