Chicago - A message from the station manager

The Weekend Desk Report

By Steve Rhodes

“Friends of a boater who disappeared Monday, prompting a search that left a Fire Department diver dead, located a body in the South Branch of the Chicago River on Friday while searching for the missing man, they said,” the Tribune reports.
“[F]amily and friends were not happy with official efforts to look for the body, leading them to organize their own search.

“We had to do it ourselves,” [one man] said. “So we went out and we started looking for him.”

That strikes me as . . . unusual? Unprecedented?


“The body was spotted in the river west of Damen Avenue about 1:15 p.m. Friday, and the group called 911, a law enforcement source confirmed . . .
“Clothing on the body appeared to match that worn by Alberto Lopez, 28, who fell off a boat Monday night into the river near Ashland Avenue. During the ensuing search, Fire Department diver Juan Bucio died.”
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“Four days into the search for Alberto Lopez’s remains in the South Branch of the Chicago River, Lopez’s friends said they didn’t think Chicago police efforts were cutting it,” the Sun-Times reports.

So they took a boat out to look on their own Friday afternoon. And it worked.
They say they spotted the body themselves near Damen – barely half a mile from the spot Lopez fell overboard on Memorial Day – and then called police to retrieve it.
“We got sick of waiting and waiting for the police,” said Ricardo Sanchez, a friend and coworker of Lopez.

Police, of course, defended their rescue efforts.
“Our officers were out and looked in the river multiple days,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Sun-Times.
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“Lopez had been sitting near the edge of a 16-foot pleasure boat Monday when a larger boat passed, and the wake knocked him in. He was unable to swim and wasn’t wearing a lifejacket, authorities said.”
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United We Fail
“The huge installations United Airlines uses to prepare and cook in-flight food recently got a new addition: some television screens. But rather than just providing news or talk show chatter, they broadcast messages explaining why workers shouldn’t unionize,” Bloomberg reports.
“Employees at all five of United Continental Holdings Inc.’s kitchens in the U.S. said the screens, installed this year, broadcast a company line urging opposition to hospitality union Unite Here – which is seeking to organize its workers – or touting United’s achievements. Among the messages are warnings about the cost of union dues, the potential for workers to lose benefits if they unionize and the difficulty of getting rid of a union once it’s been voted in. The last point, the workers said, is illustrated with the image of a forearm with a ‘Together Forever’ tattoo.”
United CEO Oscar Munoz made $18.7 million last year to come up with brilliant ideas like this one. If it seems like Munoz has been a disaster in the job, that’s because he has been.
At least he’s not yet reached the depths of his predecessor, Jeff Smisek, who resigned amidst a federal corruption investigation. One might suggest that unionized hospitality workers aren’t the biggest threat to the airlines.
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“In a complaint filed late Wednesday with the National Mediation Board, Unite Here alleged that United has illegally prevented employees from engaging in pro-union activity and subjected pro-union employees to surveillance, harassment and retaliation.
“The complaint, which claims support by 58 sworn employee declarations, also alleges that United officials conveyed ‘threats, promises, and misinformation through postings and electronic messages in the workplace,’ such as the TV screens, and in small group and one-on-one meetings . . .
“On May 23, when confronted by employees at a shareholder meeting . . . Munoz said United’s job was to ‘educate’ employees about their benefits and how, under collective bargaining, those could be subject to negotiation.”
That’s what [T]ronc’s Jim Kirk tried to tell Los Angeles Times staffers in his failed effort to stave off a newsroom union. But here’s the thing: If workers could somehow be worse off by unionizing, management would be the the biggest cheerleaders of organizing!
I’ve yet to see, however, corporate executives advised to support unionization as a way to negotiate lower wages.
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Sure, there are exceptions – like a right-wing billionaire throwing a tantrum and shutting a whole company down.
But unlike, say, DNAinfo, United is a public company and isn’t shutting down any time soon – though its continued incompetence could ultimately lead it down that path.
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United generated a profit of $2.1 billion in 2017.
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United We Stand


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New on the Beachwood . . .
The Week In Chicago Rock
Featuring: Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kooks, American Aquarium, Jose Madero, IAMNOTU, Bucket Brigade, The Crumar Bros., temp., Evasion, The All Night Boogie Band, Lamb of God, Behemoth, Dennis O’Brien Music, and Shania Twain.
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ChicagoGram


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Weekend ChicagoTube
Democrats Pick Chicago For 1956 Convention.

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Weekend BeachBook
Daddy Kushner, Unfiltered.

Sample: “You want to know what I think about ethics watchdogs? Do you really want to know what I think about those jerks? I think they’re a waste of time. They’re guys who can’t get a real job, ethics watchdog! Who gets a job – ethics watchdog? Give me a break.”
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Jared is his father’s son.
Ivanka is her father’s daughter.
Ivanka married her father.
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Ivanka’s father would like to date her!
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One crime family married another crime family.
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are both Fredo.
Worst Crime Family Ever.
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Weekend TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Exit strategy.

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Posted on June 2, 2018