Layoff notices have been sent to nine of the 21 custodians employed at Chicago’s City Hall, with Mayor Brandon Johnson blaming the notices on the city’s new budget.
Some members of the City Council have pushed back on Johnson’s blame of the budget for the layoff notices, accusing the mayor of scapegoating the council in the battle over how Chicago is allocating its funding.
Custodians at City Hall work for A & R Janitorial Service, which is based in Cicero. That company sent out the layoff notices in recent days, telling workers that they will be out of a job beginning on February 13.
Juan Ramirez, who has worked at City Hall for more than 20 years, told NBC Chicago through an interpreter that he was stunned by the news, which also cut off his health benefits.
“They told him last Monday, and he was really surprised about this,” Ramirez’s interpreter said. “He’s worried about the mortgage and the insurance for his wife, and he doesn’t know what he’s going to do right now.”
NBC 5 Political Reporter Mary Ann Ahern reached out to A & R Janitorial Service for comment, but officials there declined to offer remarks on the situation.
The Chicago City Council passed a new budget for 2026 without Johnson’s approval, as he refused to sign the measure.
He says that vendors with the city make their own hiring decisions.
“It is unfortunate whenever city vendors or contractors reduce their workforce,” a spokesperson said. “The vendors/contractors make their own decisions on layoffs, terminations and severance packages. The city is not involved with those determinations.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas pushed back on Johnson’s comments putting the onus for the layoffs on contractors.
“These are the smallest of the small companies, and these are the lowest of the lowest paid, and for the mayor to pick on the smallest paid workers is troubling,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that he’s trying to pawn it off on the City Council.”
Away from the conflicts of city politics, Ramirez expressed his concerns for those who remain on the job.
“One person is going to need to clean from the basement to the seventh floor,” he said through an interpreter.
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