{"id":967596,"date":"2026-07-29T21:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/967596\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:09:17","slug":"trade-union-jabs-mayor-brandon-johnson-as-petitions-circulate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/967596\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade union jabs Mayor Brandon Johnson as petitions circulate"},"content":{"rendered":"

As nominating petitions began circulating<\/a> for Chicago\u2019s upcoming mayoral election<\/a> this week, another local trade union accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of hypocrisy \u2014 highlighting the political fractiousness within the city\u2019s powerful labor movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Johnson\u2019s NOT the Working Man\u2019s Mayor if you\u2019re a member of LiUNA Local 1001,\u201d read a fiery Tuesday news release from the local, which represents a small slice of workers across several city departments.<\/p>\n

\n

Chicago mayoral election 2027: Who are the candidates so far?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

LiUNA Local 1001 business manager Bob Chianelli accused the Johnson-appointed leaders of the departments of Transportation, William Cheaks, and Aviation, Michael McMurray, of violating the laborers\u2019 contracts and treating them \u201clike indentured servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the members of Local 1001 are middle class working men and women with families who go to work every day and just want what\u2019s coming to them,\u201d Chianelli said. \u201cThey don\u2019t need to be insulted, degraded and abused by these two rogue Commissioners who think they are Kings and not public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The release came the same day candidates could begin circulating nominating petitions for the 2027 mayoral race. LiUNA\u2019s political action committee has donated heavily this year to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who has not officially entered the mayoral race but is widely expected to become a front-runner.<\/p>\n

An RSVP page posted on Giannoulias\u2019 website for a \u201cspecial announcement\u201d Sunday in Bronzeville was live as of Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for Giannoulias did not immediately respond to a question about whether the event was to announce he\u2019s running for mayor.<\/p>\n

Giannoulias is currently campaigning for reelection to his state office, but the sheer volume of his war chest \u2014 $21.8 million as of the end of June \u2014 is highly unusual for an uncompetitive general election this November.<\/p>\n

Also Wednesday, lobbyist John Kelly, 53, officially announced his mayoral campaign in a press release, pledging to \u201cstrengthen the Chicago Police Department, improve the CTA, stabilize property taxes, and bring accountability back to City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly, who runs the firm All-Circo and whose clients include Bally\u2019s and CVS, is a fixture of city, county and state government, but played up his status as a non-career politician in his announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI answer to one group of people\u2014the residents of Chicago,\u201d Kelly said in the release. \u201cNot political organizations. Not special interests. Not the Chicago Teachers Union. Chicago already has everything it needs to become a world-class city again. The problem is that those tools are in the wrong hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the LiUNA dispute, Johnson spokesperson Griffin Krueger said the administration was committed \u201cto uphold[ing] labor standards at the highest level while meeting the commitments we have made to public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Johnson administration and all City departments remain committed to resolving disputes in good faith while swiftly addressing compliance concerns,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cMayor Johnson holds the utmost respect for the City workers who keep Chicago running and is deeply grateful for all they do in service of the people of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, Giannoulias logged $750,000 in contributions from the LiUNA Chicago Laborers\u2019 District Council Political Action Committee and another $250,000 from the Laborers\u2019 Political League Great Lakes Region \u2014 an affiliated LiUNA regional political action committee.<\/p>\n

LiUNA wouldn\u2019t comment Tuesday on the mayoral race.<\/p>\n

But trade unions like LiUNA have coalesced around Giannoulias this year. Those unions have historically leaned more politically conservative than the stridently progressive base anchored by the Chicago Teachers Union that helped elect Johnson.<\/p>\n

\"IllinoisIllinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias attends a press conference at the King Community Service Center in Chicago, July 30, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Besides LiUNA, Giannoulias has received $1 million contributions each from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 and separate funds for carpenters, plumbers and pipefitters so far this year. The International Union of Operating Engineers contributed $1 million each from its political education fund and its joint labor management PAC.<\/p>\n

The Operating Engineers Local 150 is in the midst of a strike at the city\u2019s port that has dragged on for more than a year. The union recently took aim at the mayor<\/a> for meeting with members of a rival union whom Local 150 considers to be strikebreakers, an allegation the other union heartily disputes.<\/p>\n

Local 150 has said the port conflict has \u201cnothing to do with politics\u201d and has said the labor management PAC is legally separate from the local.<\/p>\n

At CDOT, LiUNA represents city employees who do work like asphalt paving and pothole repair. And at the Aviation Department, the union represents laborers who cut grass, trim trees and pick up trash around the city\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n

In information provided via a spokesperson, Chianelli said the union had filed grievances over the alleged contract violations.<\/p>\n

The union alleges Aviation Department employees are getting stiffed out of contractually mandated pay raises and have had their paid holidays reduced. LiUNA is also accusing the Transportation Department of suspending workers without due process.<\/p>\n

Chianelli added that some CDOT workers\u2019 paychecks have been short \u201chundreds and sometimes over a thousand\u201d dollars due to what he said the city claims is a faulty timekeeping system.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the city initiated a payroll audit<\/a> over a similar problem that led to both over- and under-payments to city workers. Chianelli had sharp words then, too, criticizing Johnson for spending millions on \u201ca toxic site for migrant housing \u2026 yet the men and women that keep this City running, pick up the trash, fix the streets and sidewalks, trim the trees, keep the airports safe and clean, and so much more, are being punished because the City cannot do 2nd grade math.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Aviation Department did not respond to a request for comment on the new allegations. Erica Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation, declined to comment beyond the statement provided by the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Chianelli accused Johnson, who cut his teeth as an organizer for the CTU, of being a hypocrite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Mayor is continually trying to sell the notion that he is for the working men and women and how his administration [is] focused on the black and brown citizens of Chicago,\u201d Chianelli said in Tuesday\u2019s news release. \u201cYet, when it comes to his employees, of which LiUNA Local 1001 consists of over 1,900 members who a vast majority are black and brown, he treats them completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

LiUNA did not endorse any candidate in the 2023 mayoral election\u2019s first round. The union then endorsed Johnson challenger Vallas in the runoff. The union\u2019s district council contributed $200,000 to Johnson\u2019s campaign in May of 2023, after he defeated Vallas.<\/p>\n

Trade unions were largely split in the first round of the last mayoral race. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, for instance, endorsed U.S. Rep. Jesus \u201cChuy\u201d Garcia, while Plumbers Local 130 backed then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot before largely coalescing around Vallas<\/a> in the runoff election that spring.<\/p>\n

The real trouble for Johnson next year could come from a fracture within the progressive wing of the city\u2019s labor movement. The Service Employees International Union \u2014 which worked together with the CTU to help propel Johnson into office \u2014 has since feuded bitterly<\/a> with the teachers\u2019 union in a dispute over school district jobs<\/a>. It remains unclear what candidate SEIU will support this go-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running the city of Chicago. I\u2019m not running labor,\u201d Johnson said Tuesday when asked about the prospect of SEIU and CTU being split in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe progressive cause in this city \u2026 has gone through, you know, a significant transformation and change,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about 40 years of not having a progressive leader on the fifth floor. \u2026 I do recognize that my position and my commitment to justice and equity has created some frustration from individuals who want more, or from individuals who think that I\u2019m doing too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago Tribune\u2019s Alice Yin contributed.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As nominating petitions began circulating for Chicago\u2019s upcoming mayoral election this week, another local trade union accused Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":967597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,24969,257046,388602,5386,1818,36234,37216,39749],"class_list":["post-967596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-mayor","tag-chicago-mayor-election","tag-chicago-mayor-race","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-mayor-brandon-johnson","tag-mayor-johnson","tag-unions"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}