Chicago, IL – Members of the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted to end a four-day remote learning action and return to school. The union announced today that by a vote of 55.5% in favor that the union would accept an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handpicked school board.

Fight Back! interviews Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR). Fight Back!: One month ago, you held the second national conference of the Alliance. What came out of that?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot locks teachers and students out of virtual classrooms

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, January 4, more than 73% of teachers in Chicago who are represented by Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to not return to classrooms on Wednesday, and instead taught their classes remotely to keep the teachers, staff and students safe as the pandemic surges. As the Omicron variant intensifies, the current positivity rate for COVID-19 in Chicago is at 23% and climbing.

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, December 22, 150 workers at the Jefferson Street UPS barn in Chicago staged a protest before work.

Activists from 22 cities attend NAARPR conference in Chicago

Chicago, IL – Two years after the refounding of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) in November 2019, over 125 NAARPR members and affiliates from around the country convened for the second NAARPR conference in Chicago starting on Saturday, December 4. They shared updates about their work fighting against police crimes and for community control of the police, among other areas of struggle, then voted on resolutions and new leadership for the next two years.

Chicago, IL – The 30th Annual People’s Thanksgiving was held in Chicago on November 21, a fundraiser for Fight Back! and Freedom Road Socialist Organization in Chicago. More than 100 people attended, and the event raised over $4000.

Chicago, IL – A front banner read, “Stop white supremacy” as people hit the street in Chicago’s Loop on November 20 to condemn the injustice in the court in Kenosha, Wisconsin the day before. A jury complying with the instructions by a racist judge sent the message that white racists and police can kill with impunity while African Americans and other oppressed nationalities can be killed, tortured and jailed without justification.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Desde el otoño de 2019, SEIU Local 73 ha realizado cuatro huelgas. En ese otoño se unieron al Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago en su lucha contra las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago; en septiembre de 2020 se unieron a la Asociación de Enfermeras de Chicago en el Hospital de la Universidad Illinois en Chicago; en diciembre de 2020 realizaron una huelga de un día con 2,500 trabajadores en contra del gobierno del Condado Cook; y este verano han realizado una huelga histórica de 18 días con esos mismos trabajadores en contra de la misma administración.

Chicago, IL – After several takeback contracts in a row, the imposition of part-time status on new hires, sub-par health insurance with an ever growing price tag that eats up wage increases, and being left to fend for themselves during the pandemic with no PPE or hazard pay, CTA workers in Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241/308 are fighting back. They've organized themselves into a caucus called the Justice Coalition. This rank-and-file caucus publishes a newsletter called Finally Got the News, which was inspired by the documentary of the same name, about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in the late 1960s.