“Every time I see a group of workers, it seems their wages are falling,” writes local labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan in Illinois Issues (February). “Case one: A big trucking company closed terminals all over the Midwest and started up again under a new name. The company with the new name signed a new contract with the union, then hired entirely different drivers. Entirely. In each terminal, all the old workers are gone. And the new ones have lower wages. Yet the powers-that-be are terrified that labor markets are too tight. Case two: A nationwide warehouse stopped hiring its own drivers and started using labor brokers. The reason? The warehouse doesn’t want to pay pensions. Still, young drivers line up to work with no benefits. Nothing. Who are these guys? They’re white male drivers who have skills and big rigs. But labor markets are tight?”
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We’re number one! Or is it number two, three, or four? Local urbanologist Pierre deVise reports the following figures from census estimates and Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers: “Among the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, Chicago ranks first in number of jobs (4,244,200) [New York has 4,236,000]; second, after Atlanta, in job gains since 1990 (535,200); third in population, after New York and Los Angeles; and fourth in population gains since 1990” (from a press release for deVise’s report “Chicago at the Turn of the Millennium,” January).
“Interestingly, Chicago’s urban beavers have not created dams,” according to the “River Reporter” (Winter), newsletter of the Friends of the Chicago River. “They seem to have adapted to urban conditions by being secretive.”
