Chicago, IL – When workers at the University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC) go into battle, they fight to win. Over recent years, a spirit has built up on campus, through the course of a series of battles. Earlier this Spring, medical center management wanted to contract out the housekeeping jobs in a new Outpatient Care Center (OCC). Instead, they got militant actions from employees.

Chicago, IL – In March, management at the University of Illinois Medical Center delivered 2 attacks on hospital workers. The first was a drastic shift change for all 140 housekeepers. A few days later, they announced the elimination of 250 jobs due to an unexpected revenue shortfall. The attacks sparked a week of protests by Local 73 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The mobilizations have already scored one victory for employees. Plus, notice has been served on management:

Chicago Il – “I was given a five day suspension for enforcing the union contract,” said Randy Evans, a union steward for Local 73 at the University of Illinois Hospital (UIH). But when management handed out that discipline, they shot themselves in the foot. The next day, 80 workers from UIC picketed the hospital, beating back the attack on one of the most active stewards. When that picket line was over, the manager that sent Evans home, submitted her resignation. “This challenge forced her to decide she couldn't handle such repercussions. Action speaks louder than words; that works both ways,” said Dolores Owens, another union steward.

Chicago, IL – There has been a high tide of conflict at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). In January, two Saturdays were spent in hearings on campus before Black and Latino state legislators. Called by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, the hearings resulted in a 67-page report, released finally in late August. It details the many demands by the forces that are fighting the administration: union workers, oppressed nationality students, faculty and staff, and the residents of the surrounding communities, mostly Mexicano and African American.

Kalamazoo, MI – This city has been the scene of another attack on working people.

A review of the pamphlet Build a Fighting Workers Movement by the Labor Commission of Freedom Road Socialist Organization

This past Dec. 5, 250 workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Goose Island in Chicago. They had been told a few days earlier that the company was closing and that there would be no severance pay, or even payment of wages or sick or vacation pay owed them. Their protest, targeting their company and the Bank of America, became a national symbol of working people’s anger at the rich and powerful. “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” they chanted as their story was reported across the world.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) convention ended on June 4. Even in its last hours, the reform movement showed it will continue to challenge the undemocratic methods of President Andy Stern. A slate of 13 rank-and-file members stepped forward to run for International Executive Board seats. This so surprised the officers that they had to scramble to print ballots. The vote counting went well into the evening, forcing their ‘victory party’ to start before the results were announced.

The largest union in the U.S., the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), begins its national convention the weekend of May 31, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Convention goers will have a very different experience from the well orchestrated ceremonies of past years. As delegate Sirlena Perry from SEIU Local 73 in Chicago put it, “There’s going to be big debate about how Andy has been doing things,” referring to the pro-business methods of SEIU’s president, Andy Stern.

Sami Rasouli in Chicago

Chicago, IL – Sami Rasouli is an Iraqi American. “When the U.S. invaded, I felt like I was attacking myself. I was the oppressed and the oppressor.” Rasouli emigrated from Iraq to the U.S. in 1976 and became a U.S. citizen in 2001. He moved back to his home in Najaf, Iraq in 2004 to help counter the U.S. occupation. Since then he has returned the U.S. each year to speak, explaining the disastrous impact of the occupation on the Iraqi people and to seek support for his efforts. Rasouli is in the U.S. now; he travels back to Iraq in July, but will be back in Saint Paul, Minnesota by Sept. 1 to join the protests at the Republican National Convention.

“Here’s the fix, tax the rich!” chanted 350 University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) workers, as they marched on May 26. Employees were mad as hell because of Governor Blagojevich’s threats against state pensions.

Chicago, IL – Juan and Henry Johnson spent almost their entire adult lives in prison, fighting charges for a murder they didn’t commit.

On March 20, starting at 7:00 a.m., 44 customer service representatives began to arrive at the Patient Access department at the UIC (University of Illinois – Chicago) Medical Center wearing matching purple t-shirts. Printed on their shirts in bold letters was the slogan, “Quality for patients, not quantity of registrations.” On the left shoulder was an 8 with a circle and a slash through it.

Meetings of the workers from the Patient Access call center at UIC Medical Center look like the waiting room of an Orthopedics clinic. Many of the workers are wearing carpal tunnel braces or their wrists show the scars of surgery.

SEIU's Stern 'Trustees' California Local

The trade union bureaucrats in SEIU (Service Employees International Union) are moving to crush the California local that refused to sell out.