Construction workers, contractors still far apart

Talks broke off Wednesday night between striking construction workers and contractors, meaning a labor action that's brought hundreds of projects to a halt in the region will continue at least until next week.

Both sides met for about seven hours in Des Plaines but didn't reach consensus. A Friday morning session is scheduled to go over finances, and another joint bargaining session will continue Monday.

Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and Laborers' District Council of Chicago and Vicinity began picketing last week.

Workers and the employers, represented by the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association and Excavators Inc., offered diverse spins on the session.

"We're very, very far apart," bargaining association spokeswoman Lissa Christman said.

But Ed Maher, a spokesman for Local 150, said that the unions were "cautiously optimistic and believe that today was a productive bargaining session."

Involving about 15,000 workers, who include heavy-machine operators, the strike is cutting into the brief good weather window available for summer construction.

Projects affected include massive regional ones like fixing the Eisenhower Expressway and the Stearns Road bridge being built in Kane County, as well as local ones such as renovating Naperville Central High School, a parking lot at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and road resurfacing in Arlington Heights.

Workers said they're dealing with hours reduced from an average of 1,600 annually to 1,000 as well as unemployment among laborers and operating engineers. Local 150 President James Sweeney said rising health care costs of 10 percent to 12 percent a year are hurting members.

Employers countered that the unions couldn't have picked a worse time to strike with the faltering economy making construction contracts hard to come by. With salaries between $35 to $45 an hour, workers are earning fair wages on projects that help the economy, bargaining association officials said.

The union had asked for 5 percent more in health benefit contributions as a starting offer, while employers offered a 1 percent increase.

The strike affects about 300 Illinois Department of Transportation projects across the metropolitan region.