Mayor Daley at labor dinner at McCormick Place, 1975
1 2021-02-10T15:28:36-06:00 Dan Harper eff3db32ed95b3efe91d381826e2c10c145cd452 26 5 Mayor Richard J. Daley stands at a podium overlooking an audience of 10,000 diners during a Labor dinner at McCormick Place. The dinner was arranged as a thank you tribute to the mayor during his sixth term in office, 1975. RJD_04_01_0061_0003_013. Richard J. Daley collection, University of Illinois Chicago. plain 2021-04-29T17:45:06-05:00 RJD_04_01_0061_0003_013 1975 Dan Harper eff3db32ed95b3efe91d381826e2c10c145cd452This page is referenced by:
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A Union Man, A business Mayor
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Mayor Daley came from a union family. His father was a lifelong member of the Sheet Metal Workers International Union, Local 73 in Chicago.
Ed Bedore recalls one negotiation between Mayor Daley's office and the Chicago Teachers Union:He was a union man. But he wasn’t a coward with the unions. I sat in meetings where he was talking with union leaders. He’d say, “No. This is not good for business.” I can remember when we’d have meetings sometimes. People would want to come in and either establish a company or build something. He would call some of the business community in. And he’d say, “Look, you tell me whether this is good for Chicago or not. I’m going to leave the room. My criteria is that if it makes jobs, I’m for it. If it doesn’t make jobs, I’m against it.” And he’d leave. We’d sit and talk. Then he’d come back.
A. Robert Abboud, First National Bank of Chicago, President, interview excerpt, December 3, 2009My dad had a great relationship with the business community in Chicago, and most of the people were Republicans. But he knew that for the city to be sound, you needed a good sound business community and a strong relationship with them. And they respected him and were very supportive of him on issues. They disagreed at other times, but he knew that he needed that base for different causes, whether it was the university or whatever. The business community helped him tremendously. It wasn’t just politicians.
John Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, May 9, 2007The business community, I think, always felt that if they had a problem, they could go to the mayor. The mayor would give them a fair hearing. And if he could help them, he would.
Newton Minow, Chair of Federal Communications Commission, interview excerpt, October 2, 2003Did the mayor raise property taxes? Yes he did. What he also did was that he had this great relationship with the business community and the unions that built this downtown. They kept putting more and more millions of dollars on the tax rolls.
Ed Bedore, City Budget Director, interview excerpt, May 18, 2009
