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  Date / Time: 7/17/2009 12:22 AM UTC

  City of Chicago lays off 400 people
  

  
  CHICAGO-It's day one of unemployment for over 400 city workers. Unlike 25 others, their two unions, AFCME and Teamsters, would not agree to concessions with city hall in tough times.
  
  Now, their workers are jobless but paying high prices.
  
  Epi Santos of Humboldt Park is now a former city driver wondering how he will pay a bill, let alone his mortgage. He says he understands the union's perspective, but at the end of the day, he is still left without a job.
  Now, in his desperate time, Santos is considering leaving his home and his family for a well paying driving job in Iraq.
  
  "(In Iraq) there will be no more layoffs, no nothing. But you have to be in Iraq. You can't come back for a year."
  
  Although he acknowledges the change will be a dangerous one, Epi feels that a legitimate job, even in Iraq, would be better than the alternatives.
  "I don't want to go on welfare; I don't want to sell drugs. That's not me, so I have to make a means of life."
  
  Santos is not alone in this new struggle; CBS 2's Vince Gerasole met others in his situation at the Teamster's Union Hall today.
  
  Kurt Aufman is a new father. His fiancé was at the hospital today being induced while he was at Union Hall learning more about unemployment benefits. When asked if he thought the Teamsters did all they could to save his and his colleague's jobs, he thinks not.
  
  Many of the workers voted to keep what they had. This may be because the drivers were counting on their 5 year contract with the city to help them navigate through this rough economy but some like Kurt lost out.
  
  "I did everything the president asked; I put out a stimulus, I bought a house 2 months ago. I did everything they asked and now I sit here without work."
  
  Some of the Teamster workers are hoping they'll be called back for seasonal employment this winter at O'Hare. Federal funds apparently help foot that bill.
  
  In the meantime Kurt anticipates holding his new baby daughter, hoping it will help ease the pain of unemployment.
  • Tags:
  • unemployment
  • layoffs
  • America
  • Jobs
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