Union officials are bracing for a wave of layoffs targeting custodians who work in Chicago city government buildings due to a $12 million cut in the facilities budget in the spending plan Mayor Brandon Johnson and aldermen put together for 2026.

Johnson’s administration ordered a 50% staffing cut for contractors employing the union custodians who are “already working with bare-bones staffing,” said Bailey Koch, spokesperson for Service Employees International Union Local 1, which represents the custodians.

The cuts are expected to hit fire and police stations, pumping stations, cultural centers and City Hall, harming both the “essential health workers” and the public, Koch said.

“Cutting this workforce in half will inevitably lead to dirtier buildings, unsanitary conditions, and increased public health risks for city workers and residents alike,” she said.

The layoffs could signal that other spending cuts passed by aldermen could ultimately lead to similar workforce reductions for contracted employees as Johnson implements a budget crafted amid immense pressure to reduce costs.

It could also further weaken a strained relationship between Johnson and the local SEIU unions that teamed up with the Chicago Teachers Union in 2023 as his most important election backers, just as a 2027 re-election bid gears up.

Koch said she was unable to say how many workers would be laid off, citing difficulties predicting how the reductions will affect buildings with small custodial staffs.

She said the businesses notified of reduced contracts by the city include A&R Janitorial Service and We’re Clean, which declined to comment, as well as Diverse Facility Solutions and ABM, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza acknowledged the cuts to the contracts, but said the city did not ask companies to reduce staffing.

“The city doesn’t determine that,” Mendoza said. “It’s up to the contractors to determine how they want to manage those reductions.”

The contracts were reduced as the mayor’s administration, facing a sprawling budget gap and pushed by aldermen to cut costs, asked city departments to reduce vendor spending “without impacting services for residents,” he added.

News of the layoff comes after NBC 5 Chicago reported last week that nine of 21 City Hall janitors would be laid off. That tip of the iceberg sparked yet another budget back-and-forth between Johnson and opposing aldermen.

Asked about the City Hall janitor layoffs at an unrelated Tuesday news conference, Johnson pointed to the forceful demands by his City Council opponents for even steeper cuts during budget negotiations. He said that he first sought “progressive revenue” to avert cuts, but his campaign for a per-employee head tax on large corporations based in the city was rejected by aldermen.

“They said you should cut more, and what I said repeatedly was, if you cut even more, it’s going to continue to cost people their jobs,” he said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Johnson initially recommended the $12 million reduction in the Department of Fleet and Facility Management that sparked the layoffs, but a City Council majority clamoring for less spending ultimately approved the budget that included Johnson’s recommendation.

Mendoza said the cut was in part inspired by a report made by consulting firm Ernst & Young recommending spending efficiencies that was highly touted by the same aldermen who out-muscled Johnson to pass the budget. But Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, argued Monday that Johnson should have found cuts elsewhere before turning to the city’s “lowest of the lowest.”

The custodians who will lose their jobs are part of a union once foundational to Johnson’s political ascent, but now less aligned with the mayor.

The SEIU Illinois State Council, a union umbrella organization that includes SEIU Local 1, declared itself “under attack” last February by the mayor’s closest ally, the Chicago Teachers Union, after SEIU Local 73 accused the CTU of trying to take jobs from their union.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/10/janitor-layoffs-to-hit-city-buildings/