Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

UIC

By staff

Pictured from left to right: Joe Iosbaker of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Elijah Edwards, Tiffany Childress Price of the CTU Human Rights Committee and her two children, CTU president Stacy Davis Gates, Christly Carpio and Lauren Pineiro, Kobi Guillory, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and CTU vice president Jackson Potter. | Photo credit: Richard Berg.

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, September 26, a coalition of unions, students and community organizations kicked off the Chicago leg of the Justice for the Tampa 5 Tour. These five activists are facing serious prison time in Florida for the crime of standing up to the DeSantis agenda. On March 6, a group of students at Tampa’s University of South Florida walked into an administrative building to defend diversity, equity and inclusion. They wanted to meet with the university president but were instead attacked by 15 campus cops. The state attorney is now charging the five with multiple felonies, and they face up to 10 years in prison.

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By Joe Iosbaker

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Chicago, IL – The strike of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 and the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) shows no sign of ending. Starting when the INA, representing 1300 nurses walked out Saturday, September 12, the strike ballooned to 5300 on Monday, September 14, when Local 73 put down their brooms, keyboards and medical equipment to hit the picket lines.

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By staff

UIC strikers

Chicago, IL – 4000 workers represented by SEIU Local 73 at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) began an open-ended strike, September 14. They join 1300 nurses represented by the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) at the University of Illinois Hospital (UIH), who began a weeklong strike on Saturday, September 12. Central to both strikes is the demand for staffing measures to protect the health and safety of frontline workers, many of whom have been exposed to COVID-19.

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By Zachary Schultz

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Chicago, IL – At noon on Saturday, September 12, 500 nurses and their supporters rallied at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Earlier that morning, Illinois Nurses Association members went on strike after months of UI Hospital refusing to negotiate on safe staffing. Nurses say that the hospital is unsafe without a limit to the number of patients per nurse. Other demands include adequate access to PPE (personal protective equipment).

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By staff

UIC workers are ready to strike

Chicago, IL – SEIU Local 73, which represents about 4000 workers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) gave notice of their intent to strike September 3. Key demands of the workers include safety, pay and respect. 94 % of the members voted for the open-ended strike which is set to begin on September 14.

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By staff

Second UIC hospital worker confirmed dead of COVID-19

UIC workers are demanding measures to keep them safer.

Chicago, IL – A University of Illinois health operating room technician, represented by SEIU Local 73, passed away this week of COVID-19 complications. An UI Health RN, represented by Illinois Nurses Association (INA), passed away last week. Over 200 hospital workers have tested positive for COVID-19. The two workers who died were not assigned to COVID-19 designated floors. There is a growth of infection outside the COVID-19 designated floors. Many employees throughout the hospital are only given surgical masks and gloves as protection.

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By staff

UIC workers picket on May 1.

Chicago, IL – On May 1, over 250 workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) picketed to demand a fair contract. Many members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 have been without a contract for almost two years.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Chicago, IL – Donald Trump is bringing his hate tour to the West Side of Chicago this Friday, March 11, with an evening rally at the campus of the University of Illinois (UIC).

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By Doug Michel

Protest against presidents' salary raise at UIC

Chicago, IL – Around 200 workers, students, and special guests from the Illinois state legislature came out for an energized protest against the Board of Trustees meeting, May 20, at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Protestors demanded that the incoming University of Illinois president Michael Hogan turn down his $170,000 raise, chanting, “Chop from the Top!” Members of SEIU Local 73 in conjunction with the coalition UIC-ABC (Against Budget Cuts) organized the picket and rally.

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By staff

Students march against military recruiters at UIC

Students and community activists march at University of Illinois-Chicago, Feb. 25. The protest opposed military recruiters and ROTC on campus. Students from area colleges and high schools and veterans of Iraq and Vietnam joined the action. After a conference on the lessons of counter-recruitment efforts in the public schools and colleges in the Chicago area, the group occupied the front of the ROTC building on campus for fifteen minutes.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Chicago, IL – Feb. 6, the center of campus at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) rang with voices. “Tenure for Professor Johnson now!” called out 100 protesters. The group, made up of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and whites, was calling on the administration to grant tenure to a Black professor.

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By Jackson Potter

Chicago, IL – While the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) continued its assault on neighboring communities and minority students, the Minority Student Coalition (MSC) organized to oppose the University actions. A rally on October 21, and a teach-in on November 17, challenged racist UIC policies, and empowered students to reject the bogus claims of the administration.

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By Joe Iosbaker

picket against proposed privatization of clinics. It's so small I can't see it

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

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By Joe Iosbaker

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.

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By Joe Iosbaker

union members holding signs at protest to save pensions

“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.

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By staff

Locked Out Workers to be Paid

As reported by Fight Back News Service on March 20, workers in the Patient Access department at UIC were locked out of their workplace for wearing t-shirts that opposed a recent decision to nearly double their workloads.

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By Joe Iosbaker

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.

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By staff

An unfair labor practices charge against the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) has been filed with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board. UIC is alleged to have targeted a member of SEIU Local 73 for possible elimination, in retaliation for his union activity.

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