A Labor Action by Cook Country Prosecutors?

They’re not allowed to strike, but some Cook Country prosecutors aren’t showing up to work today:

As many as two-thirds of the 520 prosecutors staffing Cook County’s felony courtrooms are expected to be no-shows, officials in the state’s attorney’s office said. Prosecutors throughout the 835-lawyer office are being urged to attend today’s County Board meeting instead.

“I told all the assistant state’s attorneys for special prosecutions — gang crimes, financial crimes — to attend that meeting,” said Scott Cassidy, chief of special prosecutions. “They’re using their vacation time.”

The coordinated day off by prosecutors demonstrates their fury toward the County Board and its president, Todd Stroger, over what they call broken promises to pay them as much as public defenders.

The board is offering the non-unionized prosecutors a one-time raise of 3 percent, plus a lump payment of $1,000. Meanwhile, the unionized public defenders are getting cost-of-living adjustments retroactive to 2004, amounting to a raise of more than 12 percent, according to Bernie Murray, chief of criminal prosecutions.

Some of the prosecutors are seeking more permanent time off from their jobs:

In a blistering letter to Stroger, State’s Attorney Richard Devine said Monday that 52 prosecutors have quit since February, “twice the normal rate.”

…

“I have more friends talking about quitting. And it’s not the young people. It’s the senior people. They have families. They have tuitions to pay.”

That can’t be good for the prosecution in Cook County. I’m guessing that most of the prosecutors who quit aren’t going on to prosecute somewhere else, and I don’t think criminal law experience is very helpful in civil litigation, so I figure a lot of them are just switching to the other side of the aisle.