Robert Healey makes a big pitch for creation of a Chicago Entertainment Center which he believes will promote more investment, boost the economy and create well-paying jobs. As he is head of the Chicago Federation of Labor, I am surprised, however, that he did not indicate what Chicago labor will do to insure that the jobs created are performed by union members with pay and benefits we associate with unions.
As a union Chicago teacher, I would like to know how the Chicago Federation of Labor is going to guarantee the jobs created will be union-scale jobs, or is part of the ”business climate” for Chicago going to be a progressively union-free environment? Healey himself sadly admits we will not regain our union-supported manufacturing base. How does he plan to organize the service sector then?
I suggest Mr. Healey is acting more like a civic/business leader than a labor leader whose salary is paid by union dues. I suggest Mr. Healey closet himself with labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan of Chicago who has written an excellent book on the decline and hopeful rise of the labor movement called,
”Which Side Are You On?” Mr. Healey will argue he is acting as a
”responsible” union leader, but I would ask to whom is he ”responsible”
?
