Exclusive: Disorganized Chicago Census Screwing Workers (Updated)

UPDATE, May 25, 2010 - Although the packets were finally distributed on or around May 5, some Chicago Census takers ("enumerators") are still under orders from supervisors to "work slow." What is "slow?" "No more than one household per hour," that's what. This is your tax dollars at work. The Bureau of the Census now KNOWS this: At 9:55 a.m. (CDT) today, someone at the Bureau Of The Census (IP 148.129.71.54) in Gastonia, North Carolina read this very post. May 2, 2010 - At least some of the U.S. Census Bureau's Chicago field operations do not have enough paperwork packets for their Census takers. As a result, some Census takers have been ordered by supervisors to "work slow" and to not contact "more than one" household per hour, while others have been getting less paid hourly work than they could have gotten. The field packets and paperwork they need have not been properly distributed by the Chicago Regional Census Center, located in the Citigroup Center at 500 West Madison. Census takers in Chicago start at $18.25 per hour. They are paid for up to four days of training, but are then paid only for the hours that they are out knocking on doors of addresses known to have not responded yet to the Census. Some of the small field centers in various neighborhoods have still not received enough packets for all of the Census takers recently hired and trained, which means that some of them will not be able to knock and doors and, therefore, not paid. More on this story here...