{
	"type": "rich",
	"version": "1.0",
	"provider_name": "Action Network",
	"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
	
	"html": "<link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/no-layoffs-or-cuts-to-chicago-public-library?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-no-layoffs-or-cuts-to-chicago-public-library' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div>",
	"author_name": "AFSCME Local 1215",
	"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/afscme-local-1215",
	"title": "No Layoffs or Cuts to Chicago Public Library!",
	"thumbnail_url": "https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/groups/default_facebook_images/000/332/141/original/afscme-gradient-og.jpg?1746725352",
	"description": "It’s budget season! Do you love the Chicago Public Library? Tell the City of Chicago NO LAYOFFS, AND NO CUTS ! Chicago faces a 2026 budget deficit of over $1 billion. The Mayor has said that everything is on the table, including layoffs, elimination of vacant positions, and services. During the last budget season, 52 vacant positions at the library were cut. We already suffer from low staffing, and our libraries cannot afford to lose any more staff or funding. Our city relies on us to provide top quality programming for all age levels, resources for literacy, lifelong learning, jobs, information about social services, housing, community organizations, and access to the internet. Cuts to staffing, especially during a time when the social safety net is being defunded at the federal level, would leave you, our patrons out in the cold. We need your help! We’re asking that you write your Alderperson, the Mayor&#x27;s Office, and Library Commissioner Chris Brown and let them know how much you love the library and want to see it fully funded and fully staffed. Was there a program you recently attended where you learned something new? A good book that changed your perspective? Did you need to print something in a pinch? Maybe you used our digital resources to read the news or find a job. Filling the budget deficit by cutting our public goods and nickel and diming working class communities is unacceptable. We deserve a world class library. To fill the budget gap, our union, AFSCME Local 1215, has signed on to the Babies Before Billionaires platform, put together by the People’s Unity Platform, a coalition of unions and community organizations that include SEIU Healthcare, Chicago Teachers Union, One Northside, Grassroots Collaborative and more. We are advocating that those with a lot pay a little bit more. We’re proposing: A corporate Head Tax - $400 million. Enact a head tax on corporations on a per-employee basis that exempts businesses under 100 employees, non-profits, and grocery stores. PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) - $330 million. Universities with the largest endowments in the city limits are tax exempt. In lieu of paying property taxes, they should make a payment to the city and contribute to funding city infrastructure and services. Data Mining Tax - $50 million. Tax the largest social media and data mining corporations for profiting off of our attention and our personal data. TIF Surplus - $323 million. Declare a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) surplus on all unobligated funds, bringing them back into the corporate budget. Help us stop cuts to the library and advocate for common sense solutions to fill the budget gap! Tell the Mayor and City Council your personal story of how you use the library, how layoffs, eliminations of vacant positions, , or cuts to programming are unacceptable, and that you support the Babies Before Billionaires platform. Together, we can prevent cuts to the library services and staffing that are so essential to the life of our Chicago communities. Show the city your library love by writing your testimonial today!",
	"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-layoffs-or-cuts-to-chicago-public-library"
}