Illinois Tollway workers fight to save jobs amid proposed cuts

It’s a fight to save their jobs as dozens of Illinois Tollway workers, including toll collectors held a rally in front of the agency’s headquarters Thursday morning, calling on administrators to do the right thing.

“This is the first major time this has happened,” said Joseph Codina, who has been with the tollway for 22 years. “It’s stressful, it’s devastating the way it just happened all of a sudden.”

“They spend all this money on training us, but then you just let us go,” said Tameca Davis.

Davis and her colleagues are represented by SEIU Local 73. They said the agency announced a proposed plan back in March to lay off 147 workers. The news came as the union continues negotiating for a new contract.

“I’ve raised a son here; I’ve taken care of my dad,” said Davis. “My dad is sick he’s living with me now and my sister she’s autistic so this job has provided me to take care of my family.”

Amid news of the planned layoffs, union officials are left pleading for the Tollway to reconsider the decision.

“It’s really a travesty to the people of Illinois,” said SEIU Local 73 Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Richert. “The patrons, they’re not going to get the quality service that they deserve.”

Union officials tell NBC Chicago they’ve been negotiating with the tollway agency for months and offered a counterproposal. The union wants the agency to extend the layoff date, expand the proposed severance pay, and compensate employees for earned vacation and sick time.

Richert told NBC Chicago the tollway agreed to extending the layoff date from May 17 to May 31. Workers learned their jobs will be outsourced to the Chicago Lighthouse, an organization dedicated to finding employment opportunities for blind and visually impaired residents, as well as veterans and other groups.

“Basically they said it’s not economic. They want to invest in Lighthouse they want to support those workers,” said Richert. “They want the flexibility to be able to staff, but the calls keep going up, the call time keeps going up.”

A tollway spokesperson declined our request for an on camera interview, but issued a statement to NBC 5 saying:

“The Illinois Tollway is currently in negotiations with SEIU for a new contract, which includes the elimination of toll collector and related positions currently filled by about 135 union employees. These union employees will have the opportunity to seek other Tollway positions and will be provided with career counseling, wellness support and other supportive services. Relative to layoffs, the Tollway will be negotiating the terms with union representatives.