Chicago, IL – 700 service workers at University Illinois Chicago (U.I.C.) are working without a contract. This is because management is refusing to end their decades-long practice of paying less to workers in Chicago than at the downstate campuses. Chicago workers are mostly Black and Latino; downstate workers are mostly white.

Fight Back! responds: Rice Should Resign!

To the Editor:

Chicago, IL – Local 73 of the Service Employees International Union is heading into a fight. Over 600 workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have a contract expiring on Sep. 30. Workers have high hopes, but management looks ugly. UIC has an agenda of management rights, contracting out, temp workers, speedup and increased workload.

Chicago, IL – The bosses at UIC Medical Center have a new weapon in their arsenal: privatization.

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.

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.

Detroit, MI – Six busloads of SEIU staff and members attempted to force their way into the Labor Notes conference here, April 13. The attack, which injured several trade unionists, was a part of the what the SEIU International calls a ‘war’ on the California Nurses Association.