CHICAGO (STMW) — The CTA on Sunday laid off 99 bus mechanics and servicers — the last of 1,057 CTA employees shown the door last month.
The bus drivers union warns that Monday could be the start of a second CTA “doomsday” — because the layoffs mean dirtier buses that won’t get fixed as quickly if they break down.
“You should start noticing it now,” said Carlos Acevedo, assistant business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 241, which represents bus workers. “You’ll have a lot of extremely dirty buses. You’ll start seeing the gum and the dried-up stains.”
CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said the most recently laid-off group had been decommissioning buses taken out of the fleet because of service cuts imposed Feb. 7. The group included 11 managers. “We’ve reduced the size of the fleet and therefore we need less people to operate buses or maintain them,” Gaffney said.
The bus drivers union meets Monday night, and may vote whether to strike. The CTA has said that Illinois law prohibits strikes by “essential service employees.”
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