Rahm’s union muscle
Sneed has learned Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to drop a labor bomb.
Emanuel, who had little union support when he ran in 2011, will announce he has moved from labor pains to labor gains big-time!
• The pitch: Intended as an effort to set the record straight on which mayoral candidate has a lock on major union support, Emanuel will announce he has accepted the endorsement of 15 labor unions representing 70 locals — hundreds of thousands of workers — including building trades and hotel workers throughout the city.
• The purveyors: Sources tell Sneed the mayor’s support includes nearly every single building trades union in the city: electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, Teamsters and others, as well as Unite Here!, which represents service workers, from hotel housekeeping staff to the lunch servers at CPS schools.
Among the endorsers:
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (representing two locals)
• Laborers District Council (represents eight locals)
• International Union of Operating Engineers (represents two locals)
• Ironworkers District Council (representing three locals)
• Painters District Council 14 (representing 13 locals)
• The pinch: It is also intended as a thwack at mayoral opponentJesus “Chuy” Garcia, who has been endorsed by the nearly 30,000-member Chicago Teachers Union, led by Karen Lewis — who once coveted Emanuel’s job.
• The poke: Missing from the group is SEIU Local 1, which represented the 290 Aramark janitors who were laid off after the Chicago Public Schools signed a contract with the company to clean schools last year.
• The place: Watch for the announcement by the mayor, who will be joined by the leadership and representatives of those unions at a press event downtown, following his address at the City Club on Thursday.
The Rahm hustle . . .
The Rahmster got grifted!
• The pitch: After addressing the media Tuesday on Michigan Avenue after a mayoral debate, Emanuel bought two chocolate bars from a kid who said he was raising money for his South Side high school basketball team.
• The play: Emanuel bought two chocolate bars, each priced at $2, and gave him a buck tip.
• The poke: “I thought [Emanuel] was gonna give me $100 cause he’s the guy who owns the city,” the kid told a reporter.
• The punch: A call to Donyea Jones, boys varsity basketball head coach and dean of students at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, netted this response: “We don’t do any fundraisers. That’s just a flat-out lie. I think I know the kid you’re talking about. He graduated last year. He’s very manipulative.”
• The kicker: The kid also tried to sell the chocolate to mayoral opponent Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), who didn’t buy it.
You do the math.
Pick it & stick it . . .
Hmmm. Is Gov. Bruce Rauner’s goose cooked?
Rauner’s anti-union rant Tuesday in Decatur may prove a bumpy ride for Senate confirmation of Hugo Chaviano, his appointee for director of the Illinois Department of Labor. AFL-CIO President Mike Carrigan is from Decatur — and hotter than pepper sprout.
The zoot suit . . .
Reporters covering President Barack Obama’s hasty but important hug-a-bug meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the presidential palace in New Delhi on Sunday could not help noting Modi’s suit.
• To wit: The small yellow pinstripes in his navy-blue wool suit were actually embroidery of Modi’s name, Narendra Damodardas Modi, over and over.
Sneed supposes it proves helpful if your suit gets stolen?
Deep Depp . . .
Actor Johnny Depp, who seems to be shrugging off critics who have labeled his latest movie, “Mortdecai,” a bomb, maintained his usual offbeat sense of humor while explaining to the Tokyo press why he missed an earlier news conference.
“I was attacked yesterday morning by a very rarely seen or experienced animal called ‘chupacabra,’ ” he said. “I fought with it for hours. They’re very persistent, very mean. And I’m pretty sure it came into my suitcase. I threw him off the 23rd floor. So we’ll never see him again. Thank you for understanding.”
Gotta remember that one.
Sneedlings . . .