Police protest at the foot of games committee

Story by Christopher Brinckerhoff

April 9, 2009 – Police officers and union leaders shuffled around city hall April 2 to demand a new contract. The protest happened on the same day the International Olympics Committee came to town to review the Windy City as a candidate for the 2016 games.

The need for the event arose when the financial package including a 16.1 percent pay increase over five years was taken off the bargaining table, according to the Chicago head of the Fraternal Order of Police Mark Donahue.

Donahue said the protest had nothing to do with the Olympics’ bid, and the protest message was directly for the mayor. The purpose was to draw attention to the solidarity of the police department, and to receive the same increases given to other city agencies, including a recent 6 percent pay increase given to city council members, according to Donahue.

Donahue said no one understands what it’s like to live through difficult economic times better than police officers.

“For the mayor to say we need to ‘get real’ is an abomination,” Donahue said. He was referring to a recent comment Mayor Richard M. Daley made regarding tightening our financial belt during the recession, “Let’s get real.”

Video by Albert Corvera and Christopher Brinckerhoff. In order of appearance in the video: Officer James Lynch and Fraternal Order of Police President Ted Street.