Cheers and jeers in Round Lake Beach

Cheers for the Round Lake Beach snow-plowing crews who have been out doing a great job of clearing snow and salting ice. These guys have been out day and night working hard to make the roads passable, frequently working well beyond their normal workday. These men and women are members of Local 347 the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

However, jeers are in order for the Round Lake Beach administrator and his public works director. In Ebenezer-like fashion they conspired to change employees' normal work schedules to avoid paying them overtime. The crews had worked a normal eight-hour shift ending at 3:30 p.m. Then they were called back, on the same day, at 5 p.m. and worked until 8 a.m. Normally this would result in overtime, but with the deviousness of thieves in the night, the administrator and public works director came up with a scheme that would pay these hard working employees less than what they are entitled to. They decided to change the "normal" work schedule, after the fact, and claimed the work was done as "straight" time. You could say they took food from out of the mouths of these workers and their families, and that is exactly what I am saying. Shame on them. Now, rather than pay the employees their due, the village will end up paying their attorneys for the grievances and unfair labor charges that will be filed against them.

Did the elected officials know of this? Hard to tell. But while this skullduggery was being perpetrated, the mayor was having a wedding reception at the new village community center and guess who was there as personal shovelers and snow clearers? Round Lake Beach village employees assigned to the event at village expense.

As an employer, Round Lake Beach has a long way to go to meet the ol' "Fezziwig" standard.

Matthew LaPierre

AFSCME Representative

Mundelein