Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters News

Pres. Obama Seeking $50 Billion for Infrastructure

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:00:00 CST

A combative President Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.

Pension Fund to Host Pre-Retirement Seminars

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:00:00 CST

The Pension Fund Office will host a Pre-Retirement Seminar at the Apprentice School in Elk Grove Village on Saturday, October 30, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Chicago's Unions to Celebrate Labor Day at Millennium Park

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:00:00 CST

Chicago's Unions to Celebrate Labor Day at Millennium Park -- Thousands to Call for Jobs, Strong Middle Class

Thousands of union members will gather on Monday, September 6, to celebrate Labor Day at Millennium Park to call for good jobs and a strong, middle class economy and boost get-out-the-vote efforts for November's midterm elections.

Daley Seeks $98 Million for Southeast Side Development Project

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 CST

Proposal would bring a residential and commercial mini-city to former U.S. Steel South Works site near lakefront.

The long-dormant expanse of lakefront property that once housed the U.S. Steel South Works plant inched closer to rebirth as a new Southeast Side community on Wednesday when Mayor Richard Daley asked the City Council to kick in up to $98 million in infrastructure costs.

The move comes after more than four years of negotiations between the city and developer McCaffery Interests Inc., which together with U.S. Steel Corp. plans to transform the barren 500-acre site over the next couple of decades into a $4 billion mini-city of high-rise apartments, town homes, parks, shops, offices and medical facilities that would be home to 150,000 people.

The city's participation, which is likely to be approved by the council, would involve issuing bonds that ultimately would be paid back with property taxes generated by the development. The money would pay for infrastructure, such as street construction, for the first phase of the project, which is expected to get started in 2013 after a re-route of South Shore Drive is finished.

A massively ambitious project even in the best of times, the so-called Chicago Lakeside Development will not get the city assistance until it can demonstrate the first phase is viable, city planners said. The developers will have to meet certain minimum requirements, such as having lease commitments for 60 percent of the planned retail space.

The city's assistance is critical, Daley said, because of the tract's sheer size.

"This is one of the largest pieces of property on the lakefront on the Great Lakes. This has huge impact," he said. "You have to have a plan, because most of these areas are laid dead in the country if you don't remediate them. ... This is what you have to do, rebuild your inner city."

The $397 million first phase will involve building close to 1,000 apartments and town homes and a retail village of about 800,000 square feet on 87 acres in the northwest portion of the parcel, which is adjacent to the South Shore neighborhood. Even that phase will be done in smaller increments, said developer Dan McCaffery.

The first phase should create 1,500 temporary construction jobs, and once stores open, 991 permanent jobs, the city projects.

"To now see this come to fruition, or at least to be very, very close to it, is close to a dream come true," said Ald. Sandi Jackson, 7th, who has long pushed for redevelopment of the site.

Habitat to Rehab 20 Homes to Mark 20 Years

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 CST

Carpenters, members of Habitat's Women Build, and both the Elgin and Northern Kane County chambers of commerce have also lent a hand.

Carpenters Quad Cities Market Reaches 3-Year Agreement with Contractors

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:00:00 CST

As of noon on Friday, July 23, the contractor and union carpenter committees reached a resolution to meet together the week of July 26. Furthermore, parties agreed to have strike signs removed from job sites and offices, and have union carpenters return to work while the committees work together to resolve their differences.

Union members had been working without a contract since May 1, 2010, before going on strike July 20.

Rockford Apprentice & Training Center Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:00:00 CST

The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters' Rockford Apprentice & Training Center Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Thur., Oct. 14, 2010. Stay tuned for more details.

Carpenters Ratify Contract with MARBA

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:00:00 CST

UPDATED STORY:

The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters reached a four-year agreement with the contractors represented by the Mid-American Regional Bargaining Association (MARBA). On August 7, 2010, the agreement was ratified by the Council's delegate body.

New Illinois Laws Aimed at Dishonest Contractors

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:00:00 CST

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Two new Illinois laws are supposed to protect homeowners from dishonest contractors. Gov. Quinn signed both measures into law Monday, July 12, and both go into effect immediately.

Daley Seeks $98 Million for Southeast Side Development Project

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:00:00 CST

The long-dormant expanse of lakefront property that once housed the U.S. Steel South Works plant inched closer to rebirth as a new Southeast Side community on Wednesday when Mayor Richard Daley asked the City Council to kick in up to $98 million in infrastructure costs.