Michael Moreci is a writer living in Chicago. His debut graphic novel, Quarantine, is forthcoming with Insomnia publications. His shorter comic work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in FutureQuake, Something Wicked, Accent UK’s Victoriana anthology, and Insomnia’s Layer Zero: Survival anthology. His freelance journalism has been published in the Huffington Post, Stop Smiling, North Shore magazine, In These Times, New City, and Earth Island Journal. Contact him at michael.moreci[at]gmail.com.
Articles by Michael Moreci
Daley vs. Chicago
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley doesn’t feel that he needs to do a whole lot these days. Over the past week, as indignation and frustration has swelled with city truck drivers, Daley has refused to so much as meet with Teamster officials. Meanwhile, the union is threatening to strike, which would cause a massive stoppage in city services; the Daley administration has claimed that a strike would be illegal and won’t give an inch.
According to the Teamster contract, the city is obligated to employ a workforce and pay them when there isn’t any work. The trouble started at Chicago airports, where plow drivers are accustomed to getting paid even when there isn’t any snow, and thus no work. This cost-cutting measure would reportedly save the city $1 million annually.
The issue here isn’t about money. When looking at the overall financial picture of Chicago, $1 million is loose change. It’s the $20 debt your friend asks you to repay while your house is being foreclosed. The city’s finances are grim, and $1 million isn’t going to help it.
In 2009, Chicago reported a deficit of over $500 million. Not only that, but the payments for Daley’s $86 million loan to purchase the decrepit Michael Reese hospital (slated to be converted into an Olympic Village—so much for that) are about to kick in, and the billion that was brought in through the absurd parking-meter deal to cover the city’s massive shortfalls is already dried up.
But it’s easy for Daley to point fingers at these workers and get the public behind him. They are, after all, getting paid good money to not work, while so many are laid-off. Daley can work his spin and divert the attention from what a strike would truly represent: an organized challenge to Daley’s limitless power.
Last week, Daley said that “these are very difficult times and we all have to share in that pain.” True, yet it’s hard to recognize what Daley is doing to alleviate this pain.
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