OAK LAWN — All they want to do is return to work and serve the community, with fair wages and benefits.

But as the 100 day mark came and went last week, Chicago area funeral directors and drivers represented by Teamsters Local 727 were still without a favorable contract and continued to strike after being locked out by Houston-based Service Corporation International (SCI.)

Teamsters Joint Council 25 President and Local 727 Secretary-Treasurer John T. Coli said he’s not going to let his membership be taken advantage of by SCI.

Coli led a Teamsters rally in Oak Lawn at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home Oct. 10. He said the numbers don’t add up in the current negotiation offerings.

“Here’s a corporation whose stock has risen over 90 percent in the last two years because of hard working people. Their proposals to get out of our health and welfare and pension fund and move into their 401(k) and their company plan would save them in premiums they pay over $1 million a year,” he said. “That’s enough to pay for everything we’ve asked for in this contract. We’ve been reasonable, we’ve been fair. They have not.”

Coli said the pension costs alone, to shift from the 90 percent funded Teamsters plan to the company’s health and pension plan, would cost each employee 15-20 percent of their salary. Compound that — with the loss of benefits, and he says it adds up to a raw deal.

“Each employee would lose the equivalent of about $10,000. And the difference in the benefit levels will cost another 20-30 percent. Add it up, and it’s a 50 percent pay cut. We’re not going to stand for that,” he said.

The strike, which started July 2, involves 16 Chicago area funeral homes and 59 workers, including Vincent Giff, a funeral home director with SCI-owned Blake-Lamb Funeral Home. Giff explained Blake-Lamb was sold to SCI two years before he started working there in 1989.

“When I came here, I thought I was going to work for the big guy. Almost like the promised land. I never dreamt I’d be forced to strike after 34 years in the business, 24 here at Blake-Lamb,” he said.

Giff said he grew up just blocks from where he works at Blake-Lamb, and the scabs brought in by SCI to do business just don’t have the same connection with the community.

“I’ve had the fortunate privilege to work with the best seasoned professionals in the business. . . . The experience we have with working for one of the highest volume funeral homes in the Chicago area is immeasurable,” said Giff.

“We have learned from one another. We’ve worked with the same families repeatedly. SCI is obviously content in letting our families be handled by directors with virtually no experience or connection to the community.”

Teamsters Local 727 has represented Chicago’s funeral directors and embalmers since 1946, and it represents more than 6,800 men and women in the greater Chicago area.

“You have the undying support of the entire Teamsters leadership,” said Becky Strzechowski, Teamsters International vice president, central region, who said the Teamsters are at the front line in the war against labor.

“What is happening here is happening across the country. Corporations are making profits like SCI, in some cases record profits. The single reason they are successful is because of the employees. Do they recognize or thank these employees? No, instead they attack their workers . . . shrinking take home pay and cutting benefits.”

To find a community-friendly funeral home not affected by the labor action, call the hotline at 312-206-4123, or visit www.integrityinillinois.com. A complete list of affected homes is available at the site.

“I have much admiration for funeral directors, embalmers and livery drivers,” said Strzechowski. “Each and every day you show respect and honor to the deceased, and you are there to help their loved ones through the worst times in their life with care and compassion, and you do not deserve to be treated this way.”