La presidenta del SEIU Local 73, Dian Palmer, encabezó todas estas huelgas – más huelgas que cualquier otro sindicato local o internacional en los Estados Unidos durante ese periodo. Tres de las huelgas ocurrieron durante la pandemia de covid-19. El único sindicato en el país que se le acerca a este récord es el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, pero sus huelgas – aunque fueron más grandes – se realizaron a lo largo de siete años.

Muchos sindicalistas, incluyendo el SEIU a nivel nacional, le están prestando atención al Local 73. ¡Lucha y Resiste! tuvo la oportunidad de hacerle unas preguntas a la presidenta Palmer acerca de las lecciones que ha dejado la huelga en el Condado Cook.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Podrías hablar acerca de lo que hacen los trabajadores del Condado Cook y por qué están en huelga? Dian Palmer: SEIU Local 73 representa alrededor de 2,500 trabajadores en cuatro áreas principales de trabajo y ocho contratos: salud del Condado Cook, la oficina del alguacil, las oficinas del presidente del condado, y la oficina desecretarios. Lamentablemente, estos trabajadores han laborado por varios años con contratos que producen ganadores y perdedores usando un sistema en el cual el condado le incrementa los sueldos a algunos trabajadores y se olvida de otros. El condado también jugó un juego sucio ya que el condado se salió con la suya pagando tarifas inferiores a las del mercado para los trabajadores que trabajaban de guardia porque un miembro calculó mal la cantidad de trabajadores que calificarían para el pago de guardia.El condado se lavó las manos y nos dijo, “es su problema. Ustedes van a recibir esta cantidad de dinero. Háganlo rendir.” Esto resultó en que a los trabajadores se les pagara tarifas inferiores a las del mercado por tres años.

Por último, el condado a menudo dejaba atrás a grupos de trabajadores en el mismo trabajo. Es decir, los trabajadores que realizaban el mismo trabajo con una antigüedad similar ganaban diferentes salarios.

Los trabajadores se quejaban de la falta de dignidad y respeto en el trabajo. Frecuentemente, el condado castigaba a los trabajadores por motivos de enojo y venganza. El condado recibió ayuda federal por la pandemia, pero se negó a incrementarle los sueldos a trabajadores con esa ayuda. Algunos trabajadores y sus familias se enfermaron, y lamentablemente algunos fallecieron. Lo mínimo que el condado pudo haber hecho fue incrementarles los sueldos a todos los trabajadores. Algunos recibieron incrementos y algunos no. De nuevo, ganadores y perdedores.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Además de los sitios en huelga, nos podrías describir las demostraciones organizadas por los huelguistas? ¿Cuál era la estrategia general? Palmer: Nuestra estrategia era hacer público nuestro mensaje y llevar nuestros asuntos a los ciudadanos y sobre todo a los votantes. Organizamos manifestaciones, marchamos por las calles, tuvimos una vigilia e hicimos algunas sentadas en el ayuntamiento.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué tipo de apoyo recibió la huelga de parte de otros sindicatos y la comunidad? Palmer: La ayuda de otros sindicatos fue clave. Nos ayudaron a desarrollar nuestra estrategia para las negociaciones, nos dieron apoyo financiero, y se comunicaban con los funcionarios. Muchos de ellos nos llamaron para informarnos de su apoyo y afirmar su compromiso. Le quiero dar un saludo especial al presidente Greg Kelly [SEIU Health Care Illinois/Indiana], quien se reunió con nosotros hasta la madrugada durante una sesión de negociaciones.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: 18 días es bastante tiempo para estar sin trabajar. ¿Qué hizo el sindicato para mantener la unidad entre los huelguistas? Palmer: Los trabajadores fueron increíbles. Los mantuvimos informados en cada etapa del proceso. Lucharon porque se dieron cuenta, como dijo Barack Obama, de que “eran el cambio por el que estaban esperando.”

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cómo describirías el resultado de la huelga? Palmer: El resultado no fue todo por lo que luchamos, pero fue un logro en comparación con lo que teníamos. Desafortunadamente, tuvimos que dejar dos asuntos para arbitraje porque el condado se negó a negociar un acuerdo razonable para aumentar el sueldo a los trabajadores menos pagados, por un lado, y, por el otro, a los que han trabajado por más tiempo. Fue una dura batalla con el condado. Lanzaron una campaña difamatoria en contra de los lideres del local con comentarios verbales y escritos, y sus acciones fueron muy parecidas a la represión sindical. ¡Imagínate eso! Pero seguimos adelante porque a fin de cuentas, es lo que merecen nuestros miembros. Es lo que merecen todos los trabajadores.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles

Chicago, IL – On July 12, more than 2500 Cook County, Illinois workers who are members of SEIU Local 73 ended an 18-day strike after winning major improvements on key issues. Two issues remained outstanding in the deal but will now move to interest-based arbitration, which only became an option because the workers went on strike.

In the partial tentative agreement, the union members won better pay equity across multiple areas of the county. They also won hazard pay for certain essential workers during the pandemic, and language to prioritize seniority in hiring and promotions from within. These victories will improve equity at the county, where most of the union workers are Black or brown, and most are women. They had been fighting for these type of equity proposals throughout bargaining and the strike.

The union members have been in negotiations for more than ten months and their contract expired on December 1, 2020. The now-ended 18-day strike was the longest strike that Local 73 has ever held and is the longest strike of public sector workers in Chicago in recent history.

The proposals that will go to arbitration now are over raising the bottom of the wage scale and improving longevity pay steps for long-term workers.

Sylvia Kizer who is a building service worker at Stroger Hospital, states “This fight gave us courage, taught us how to fight, and to believe in ourselves. The issue was never about going to work, it was about the conditions we were working in.” She went on to say, “We built solidarity across the county, job titles, education levels, and we became family. I can walk around with my head held high. This is a movement not a moment, and we will never be the same.”

Shadonna Davis is a worker in Cook County Jail and has the following to say, “The strike was a sacrifice that many of us made and it paid off. It’s a shame that Preckwinkle forced us to go out on strike for 18 days when she could have given us the same agreement as the other unions.”

One major sticking point for the union had been that the county recently settled contracts with two other unions that represent Cook County workers yet was not offering comparable contracts to the SEIU-represented workers. Now, by striking, the workers have moved the needle and received a contract offer that comes much closer to those offers and have returned to their jobs having won a major victory.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #Strikes

Chicago, IL – Cook County workers in are standing strong after 17 days on strike. The strike by members of SEIU Local 73 took a bitter turn four days after workers walked off the job, when Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle offered three other unions contracts with the wages demanded by SEIU and refused in bargaining to offer SEIU similar terms.

This strike comes after a long and difficult period for many of the county workers who have seen setback after setback from Democrat politicians – who in many cases have run for office using language about opposing racism and representing the people. Before this strike there were other strikes in Chicago in recent years in which the boss at the bargaining table is an elected Democrat, including three by Chicago Teachers Union against former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and current Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as well as strikes by the Illinois Nurses Association and SEIU Local 73 at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), with Governor J.B. Pritzker.

A strong majority of the Cook County union members are Black and Latino. They are striking for a decent contract but also say they are on strike for a new compact with the Democrat politicians demanding that they stop attacking the working class, Black and brown people, and stop attempting at every turn to roll back benefits and wages in county jobs.

More than 100,000 residents of the Chicago area lost their houses in the Great Recession, disproportionately in Black and Latino communities. Since then, public sector jobs, which were long a pathway to stable lives and prosperity, especially for Black workers, have seen workers just breaking even with little or no wage increases.

Friday evening, July 9, a striker vigil was held for those members of Local 73 at County who became ill or died from COVID. Clerical Worker Shadonna Davis reminded the crowd that the county jail was the single worst COVID-19 super spreader of any institution in the U.S. for the first months of the epidemic. Davis herself contracted COVID in the jail and took it home where her family also got sick, and while those at home all survived, her father, a 24-year employee at the jail, contracted COVID at work and died from it.

The Chicago Federation of Labor also had a truck full of boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables for the workers.

Also, in attendance at the vigil were SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer, Secretary Treasurer Joe Richert, and Larry Alcoff, who is the lead negotiator for the 2500 striking workers at Cook County. In recent discussions throughout the last week the union and members have recommitted to stay on strike and continue to fight for what is right both in the contract and for the community.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Strikes #CookCountyWorkers

Chicago, IL – Cook County workers in are standing strong after 17 days on strike. The strike by members of SEIU Local 73 took a bitter turn four days after workers walked off the job, when Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle offered three other unions contracts with the wages demanded by SEIU and refused in bargaining to offer SEIU similar terms.

This strike comes after a long and difficult period for many of the county workers who have seen setback after setback from Democrat politicians – who in many cases have run for office using language about opposing racism and representing the people. Before this strike there were other strikes in Chicago in recent years in which the boss at the bargaining table is an elected Democrat, including three by Chicago Teachers Union against former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and current Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as well as strikes by the Illinois Nurses Association and SEIU Local 73 at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), with Governor J.B. Pritzker.

A strong majority of the Cook County union members are Black and Latino. They are striking for a decent contract but also say they are on strike for a new compact with the Democrat politicians demanding that they stop attacking the working class, Black and brown people, and stop attempting at every turn to roll back benefits and wages in county jobs.

More than 100,000 residents of the Chicago area lost their houses in the Great Recession, disproportionately in Black and Latino communities. Since then, public sector jobs, which were long a pathway to stable lives and prosperity, especially for Black workers, have seen workers just breaking even with little or no wage increases.

Friday evening, July 9, a striker vigil was held for those members of Local 73 at County who became ill or died from COVID. Clerical Worker Shadonna Davis reminded the crowd that the county jail was the single worst COVID-19 super spreader of any institution in the U.S. for the first months of the epidemic. Davis herself contracted COVID in the jail and took it home where her family also got sick, and while those at home all survived, her father, a 24-year employee at the jail, contracted COVID at work and died from it.

The Chicago Federation of Labor also had a truck full of boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables for the workers.

Also, in attendance at the vigil were SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer, Secretary Treasurer Joe Richert, and Larry Alcoff, who is the lead negotiator for the 2500 striking workers at Cook County. In recent discussions throughout the last week the union and members have recommitted to stay on strike and continue to fight for what is right both in the contract and for the community.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Strikes #CookCountyWorkers

Chicago, IL – Workers at Cook County in Illinois have been on strike for two weeks as of today, July 8. Yesterday the workers ratcheted up the pressure on Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle with a large rally and sit-in at the president’s office.

Earlier in the day the workers had continued to picket at Stroger and Provident Hospitals, the County Jail, the Markham Courthouse, and multiple construction sites. Later they carpooled in large numbers to Daley Plaza where the Cook County Building is. Once there they started out by shutting down and holding an intersection for more than ten minutes then led a march which wrapped fully around all sides of the building. As this was occurring outside the building, a smaller group of strikers went into the building and up to the fifth floor where Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle’s office is located and delivered a letter of solidarity from unions and community supporters. Preckwinkle’s staff would not come out to talk to the crowd, so they decided to stay and occupy the area to demand that Preckwinkle settle their union contract.

This sit-in and rally came on the 13th day of around 2000 county workers being on strike demanding a fair contract like the one that the county agreed to with its AFSCME and National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC)-represented workers. With those unions, the county agreed to 8.5% in pay raises over four years and both unions also won improvements to their wage schedules. NNOC received three additional step increases for longevity of 2% each. The AFSCME members won an increase to the top step of the wage scale which caused an adjustment across the scale creating pay increases at all levels. The SEIU members say they deserve a contract similar to the ones that the county has already agreed to with its other unions. The Cook County SEIU members say their longevity increases have been diminishing throughout their wage scale. Additionally, their healthcare costs have been rising.

The striking union members held a mass call on Wednesday, July 7, out of which they made a new commitment to stand strong and continue the fight for the contract they deserve. They also began preparations to hold a large online civil disobedience training, signaling again that they are not likely to back down any time soon and area ready to do what it takes to win.

The Cook County strike is not the first strike in recent years that has taken place in the Chicago area in which working class union members are having to fight back against attacks from elected officials who are Democrats. Preckwinkle is a Democrat and is in charge of the union negotiations for Cook County. The Chicago Teachers Union has had to hold multiple strikes in recent years during negotiations with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and before that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who are both members of the Democrat party. It has become increasingly clear that the only way that workers can get a fair shake in negotiations is if they make their voices heard loud and clear on the strike lines and in the streets, regardless which party is in office.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #Strikes #CookCountyStrike

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of workers clad in purple rallied in 90-degree heat in front of Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side today, July 5. According to Ericka White, a county employee in the business office and an elected member of the bargaining committee for Local 73, “Our members are strong and we’re going to win our demands.”

The strike of 2500 employees of Cook County Health, County Jail, and the county corporate offices continues because of this strength. A popular chant heard for two hours was, “One day longer, one day stronger!”

Earlier last week, management settled with three other unions: National Nurses United (who had staged a one day strike on Thursday, June 24), the Teamsters, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. On June 28, a “best and final offer” was made to Local 73, but management hid that the other agreements included additional pay raises in anniversary steps.

Local 73 members include the county employees with the lowest pay grades, and the negotiators for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are threatening to make worse the pay disparity between SEIU and the other workers.

A large number of Local 73 members were prevented from striking by a court injunction. Those workers report to the strikers that the county's plan to bring in strikebreakers failed because the agency workers are refusing to do the work and complaining about the hours. Earlier this holiday weekend, Larry Alcoff, lead negotiator for SEIU, said, “Management came to the table on Friday not to settle the contract, but to get you back to work, because they can’t run this hospital without you!”

Today, Alcoff reported that management had put more on the table than in their ‘final offer,’ but the two sides are still separated by a dollar amount so small, it amounts to one-twentieth of 1% of county’s $7 billion budget, not including the $1 billion county is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan. The difference in the two sides amounts to $25 per worker per year.

“This is not an economic decision. This is a political decision by management,” Alcoff added. “We will give them 24 hours to get this deal done. If it’s not finished, tomorrow we will march the entire labor movement, and our elected officials, into Hyde Park [Cook County President Preckwinkle’s neighborhood] to show we’re not taking it anymore!”

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #publicSectorUnions #Strikes #CookCountyStrike

Chicago, IL – Striking members of SEIU Local 73 in the highway and transportation division of Cook County government shut down a construction site in Buffalo Grove, a town in the suburbs northwest of Chicago. This two-mile long bridge project was shut down on Friday, June 25, the first day of the strike. The union Operating Engineers, Laborers, and Carpenters are respecting the picket line at the county construction site in Buffalo Grove. This is a $60 million project with $29 million in federal funds.

Monday, June 28, in the southwest suburbs, the same division of Local 73 members shut down construction at 95th Street and Roberts Road in Hickory Hills at 6 a.m.

Tuesday, June 29 was the most dramatic day of protest yet. Hundreds of workers in purple marched around the building which houses Chicago City Hall and the Cook County offices. Then they marched in and occupied the building for an hour. Accompanied by drums and cymbals, they sat down and with purple whistles, filled the air with the noise.

Purple is SEIU’s union color.

After an hour, they marched across the street to Daley Plaza, where Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), addressed the rally. “Your dignity is embedded in what you are willing to fight for and win. CTU is here to say if you need six or seven days, we got your back. And if you need any more than that, we’ll shut it down with a sea of red and purple!”

Red the is union color of CTU.

After the downtown protest, 50 strikers went to Hyde Park to protest at a fundraiser for Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle. The politicians and big donors attending the event had to walk through a formation of strikers. Preckwinkle herself had to get through the picketers, who booed her on the way in. The workers appealed to Preckwinkle’s supporters to give their money instead to the hardship fund to supports the strikers. Local 73 members include the lowest-paid employees of Cook County.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #PublicSectorUnions #Strikes #TeachersUnions #CookCountyStrike

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of striking members of SEIU Local 73 rallied today, June 26. The rain continued to fall intermittently, sometimes in a downpour, but the festive spirit of the strikers wasn’t extinguished. Even the tornado siren at the end of the rally didn’t dampen their militancy.

Featured speakers included strikers, such as Ericka White, a member of the union’s executive board; and Jim Phipps, a 34-year employee who as a young man had been an organizer with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi.

Elected officials included Alderman Andre Vasquez, and County Commissioner Alma Anaya. Also present to fire up the crowd was Christel Williams-Hayes, recording secretary of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression praised the strikers, and reminded them, paraphrasing the great abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglass, “We may not win everything we fight for, but we have to fight for everything we win!”

Over and over, speakers repeated the themes of the strike. First of all, most of the 2500 workers have braved the COVID crisis to care for patients. Also, Local 73 members on strike include the clerical workers in the county jail, which never shut down during the pandemic. The jail was infamous as the biggest super spreader of COVID of any jail or prison in the country for the first six months.

Through all of the past 16 months, the workers were denied pandemic pay such as temporary bonuses or raises for frontline workers in hazardous situations. Then, when the contract bargaining began, the bosses offered them pennies, while announcing plans for 80% health care premium increases.

That is all Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is offering the hospital and clinical technicians, physician assistants, social workers, and service and maintenance workers, despite the county having received $1 billion in federal stimulus aid.

Samar Damra, a striking social worker and member of the bargaining committee, told Fight Back! that the social workers were in full support of the strike, and willing to strike until winning their demands.

Picketing began at 8 a.m. and the rally was held at 11 a.m. The main demand of the rally was for Preckwinkle to return to the bargaining table. By the end of the action, Local 73 Executive Vice President Jeffrey Howard announced that a judge had ordered Preckwinkle to return to the bargaining table today. This was met by cheers from the workers.

The strike is open ended, meaning workers will continue on the picket lines until a contract is achieved.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles

Chicago, IL – 2449 members of SEIU Local 73 who work at Cook County Health in Chicago began an open-ended strike on Friday, June 25 at 6 a.m. The SEIU members have been in bargaining with Cook County for over nine months and decided the only way to get the contract they deserve is to fight for it. The facilities that are striking include Stroger and Provident Hospitals; clinics and mental health services at Cermak; Cook County corporate offices and clerk’s office, and the county jail. Members at all of these locations will strike indefinitely until they win a contract that they feel is adequate to return to work.

Union members close to negotiations say that Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and her management bargaining team did not offer any real proposals to solve the issues in bargaining over the last day of meetings and does not appear to be making a real effort to find a solution and settle the contract. They have not made any proposal to the union around economics, despite the workers having risked their lives and the lives of their families during the pandemic. Instead workers say that Preckwinkle is going after their union, along with the National Nurses Union, in bargaining and is attempting to punish them for taking a stand to protect themselves and the community. The actions of Preckwinkle are a large part of what has led the workers to decide that a strike is their best course of action.

They union is asking Preckwinkle to come to negotiations and work to settle the contract by bringing real wage increases, equal pay for equal work and affordable health insurance. The county and Cook County Hospital are forecasting significant revenue increases through the year 2026, which will include $1 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan. Despite the good economic news, Preckwinkle and management’s bargaining team currently have not offered and proposals to improve staffing at the hospitals and clinics or support long term workers in county offices. She is also not offering pandemic pay to the workers, even though the federal government is paying for it.

At the same time as she is not making serious proposals to address these issues, Preckwinkle and her team are instead choosing to spend millions of dollars in federal COVID relief funds to hire replacement workers to function as scabs.

Some of the proposals that the union is fighting for include an increase the steps to reward longevity, appropriate staffing levels, fair raises, equal pay for equal work, hazard and pandemic pay, affordable healthcare and retiree benefits, tuition reimbursement, and pay based on professional experience and years of licensure.

After picketing in the rain in the rain Friday morning, the strikers rallied at 11 a.m., where union Executive Vice President Jeffrey Howard said, “We told CPS [Chicago Public Schools] that Local 73 workers would not take it anymore. They didn’t listen so we went on strike and won. UIC said, ‘We didn’t hear that,’ so we went on strike there and won a fair contract. We said to President Tony Preckwinkle, ‘Respect us, protect us, and pay us!’ and now we’re on strike here.” Howard was recalling two strikes at the Chicago Public Schools and at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) that resulted in real wins for the union members.

Strike lines were happening on Friday, June 25 from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both Stroger Hospital and Cook County Jail, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Provident Hospital, along with an 11 a.m. rally at Stroger Hospital. The union says they will announce future strike lines and locations as things go forward and will strike until they win a fair contract.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles

On International Human Rights Day, December 10, the Philippine National Police raided the homes and jailed Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines; Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila; Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila; Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila; Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR); Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC), and journalist Lady Ann Salem, Communication Officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television and editor for the online news site Manila Today. The raids allegedly generated an armory of high-powered rifles and explosives in each of the residences searched.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's repressive regime has killed at least 8,000 people in an alleged “war on drugs” targeting opponents of the regime, including human rights defenders, trade unionists, and land rights activists. In July, Duterte imposed a draconian anti-terror law making it even easier to crush his opponents.

Duterte’s repression has been enabled by supplies of U.S. weaponry and military aid in excess of $500 million since 2016, the year Duterte took power.

We strongly condemn the repression unleashed against leading trade unionists in the Philippines and demand the immediate release of the Human Rights Day 7.

We call on Congress to immediately pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) which would “suspend United States security assistance to the Philippines until such time as human rights violations by Philippine security forces cease and the responsible state forces are held accountable.”

Dian Palmer

President, SEIU Local 73

#UnitedStates #Philippines #SEIULocal73 #RodrigoDuterte #HumanRightsDay7 #Asia

Chicago, IL -The largest strike since the economic crisis hit came to an end at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), September 24. Last night and this morning, tentative agreements were announced for the 4000 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73, and the 1300 members of the Illinois Nurses Association (INA).

The nurses struck for seven days starting Saturday, September 12. SEIU members started on Monday, September 14 and stayed on the picket lines for ten days.

For both unions, safety for workers and patients was a priority, after four employees and one spouse died of COVID-19 because management failed to keep workers safe this spring. In all, 300 employees at UIC have contracted the virus. At least eight were on respirators and three suffered strokes.

INA won staffing levels, a key demand for them, with the agreement by the employer to hire 160 more nurses. For Local 73, according to President Dian Palmer, the wage agreement has increases of 2%, 1%, 1.5% and 1.5% for the four years of the contract. In addition, hundreds of the lowest-paid workers will have wages increased to $15 per hour. Wages for newly-hired food service workers had been less than $11 per hour, and the starting wage for building service workers were less than $13 per hour. Some food service workers employed for ten years still did not earn $15.

Striking workers believe that management finally relented because workers raised the stakes in recent days. UPS drivers with Teamsters Local 705 had refused to cross picket lines, and on Wednesday, Iron Workers, Electricians and others refused to cross a picket line into a $200 million construction site for a new surgery center being built by the University of Illinois Hospital. With 40 construction workers idled, strikers believe they cost UIC $20,000 for the day. In addition, a striking building service worker named Jose Quintero, with experience in construction, said that nine yards of concrete costing over $1000 was ruined because they weren’t able to pour it.

Local 73 President Palmer said, “When the university offered those they call ‘heroes’ zero raises for working during the pandemic, those workers said, ‘If we’re essential, then treat us like we’re essential.’ We also won shift differentials, bilingual pay, and raises for the DSCC workers.” DSCC is the Department of Special Care for Children, a state agency that come under UI Hospital management in the past decade. In two previous contract fights, Local 73 had demanded better wages for these underpaid workers, who are spread across the state in clinics.

Workers around the country watched this strike closely, and this victory will give momentum to contract fights in the coming year.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Strikes

Chicago, IL – On Saturday, September 19, members of SEIU Local 73 continued their strike at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), rallying with community and labor allies. The 4000 workers say they are fighting for UIC to “respect us, protect us and pay us” and have vowed to remain on strike until their demands are met.

The Illinois Nurses Association (INA) finished their seven-day strike at UIC today, although co-chief steward Paul Pater announced that an agreement has not yet been reached, saying, “If we don’t have significant movement when we get back to the table on Monday, we’re going to authorize a vote for a strike, and they are terrified of that, us coming out again with you all.”

Safe staffing, workplace safety, and access to PPE are among the primary issues in the strike. For SEIU Local 73 members, a living wage is also a key demand, as some workers at UIC continue to be paid much less than Chicago’s minimum wage.

Dozens of cars passed by the rally in solidarity with the striking workers, part of a caravan organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for the national day of protest calling for an end to police crimes and community control of police. The strike at UIC has centered the struggle against the oppression of Black people, and the rally enthusiastically greeted the caravan.

Many labor unions were present in solidarity, including the Chicago Teachers Union, American Postal Workers, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, UIC Graduate Education Organization, and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #UniversityOfIllinoisChicagoUIC

Chicago, IL – Over 1000 University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) workers from SEIU Local 73 and the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) flooded the center of downtown Chicago, September 18, calling for Governor JB Pritzker to support their demands in the largest strike ever at the university.

The strike began last Saturday, September 12, when INA nurses walked out at UI Health, where UIC has refused to negotiate safe staffing limits. 4000 Local 73 workers bolstered the lines September 14, joining the strike, demanding safe working conditions, staffing and a living wage. Large rallies and lively picket lines have marked the past week as workers have continued to press their demands.

The march began early in the morning at Millennium Park and proceeded to outside Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office at the Thompson Center, the State of Illinois office building.

Angie Ross, a medical office specialist in physical therapy at UIC fired up the large crowd. “We know our governor has the ability to do what’s right and help our union win this battle. We hope you take the chance to protect the workers of this state. My sisters and brothers, out here we will not stop fighting until UIC does what’s right by us.”

The rage at the disrespect, low wages and unsafe conditions was clear at picket lines and rallies throughout the past week. The strike is the largest since the start of the economic crisis, and the largest ever at UIC. The strike was born out of the same sentiment that launched the country-wide rebellion against police terror. UIC workers have gone beyond calling for improvements at work to demanding justice in their communities, with Black lives matter being a major slogan of the strike.

The message is clear: working people and the oppressed are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

In 2018 many unions, including SEIU Local 73, mobilized their members to support Pritzker for governor. At the time of writing, he has not issued any statement about the strike at UIC.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #UniversityOfIllinoisChicagoUIC

SEIU Local 73 is gearing up to strike on September 14.

At the moment, SEIU 73 does not know whether any of these out-of-state workers were tested for the virus, let alone conducted the mandatory quarantine period for states reflected on the travel order.

“UIC is bringing in workers from states with higher COVID-19 transmission rates to break a strike from a workforce complaining that management risks worker and patient lives due to inconsistent COVID-19 safety protocol enforcement,” said Dian Palmer, SEIU Local 73 president. “We want to come to an agreement that is fair and just for UIC workers, but we’re also ready to strike. UIC workers are not only fighting for their livelihoods, but for their lives, the safety of their families, and the communities being served.”

UIC continues to drag its feet when it comes to COVID-19 protections and economics. Though SEIU Local 73 has had positive discussions about a $15 per hour minimum wage, UIC has not agreed to fully comply with Chicago's minimum wage law, nor have they promised the resources and protections needed to keep UIC workers, their families and the community safe.

By bringing in workers from states on the travel order, it is putting Chicago and its hospitals at risk while alienating their workers. If no agreement is reached, UIC workers will begin striking on Monday, September 14 at 6 a.m. SEIU Local 73 has filed unfair labor practices over UIC's conduct during negotiations. There has been no resolution to the claims and the union has moved forward with the intention to strike in its efforts to resolve the unfair labor practice charges and other worker concerns.

“This is making me and my coworkers upset. You're telling me you don't have the money for us? But you have $1200 to $3000 per week to bring in others from another state that's considered a hot spot? That's a slap in the face. Even with the money aside, I can't spend it if I'm dead. You call us essential workers, but you're putting our lives at risk by not giving us universal testing and protections and bringing in potentially infected people,” says Building Service Worker Monica Jones.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #UniversityOfIllinoisChicagoUIC #Strikes

Fight Back News Service is circulating the testimony of Joe Iosbaker to the September 10 University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Board of Trustees meeting. University of Chicago workers are preparing a major strike for safety, respect and wages.

I’m Joe Iosbaker, 30-year civil service employee at UIC

Juan Martinez was a surgical technologist in our hospital. He was my friend. He was a leader in his department, which is why his co-workers put him forward to be on the first Technical bargaining committee when they joined Local 73 in the early 2000s.

Juan died on April 27 from COVID-19.

Why did Juan and another SEIU Local 73 member die at UIC? Why did so many other members of Local 73 here get sick? I personally know of at least four who were on respirators, at least one who flatlined and had to be brought back, and at least four who are now in physical therapy to learn how to walk or talk again.

Why didn’t UIC management act earlier to protect its employees? Dr. Howard Ehrman of SPH wrote to the administration through the Academy listserv on February 27 to warn that the virus was going to spread dramatically, and yet management dragged their feet for two more weeks before moving to remote classes, and weeks more went by before they enacted inadequate measures to protect employees. In those weeks, management told Local 73 and members in the hospital not to wear masks because “it was a bad look.”

Why didn’t they protect us? Part of the answer is profit. Management uses profits for top administrative and administrative salaries. For example, the dean of the college of medicine makes almost $800,000 a year. Management also uses their profits to set aside monies for the new surgical center and other investments. They didn’t want to disrupt business. And they’re still doing that.

But it was also racism. UIC has a 50 year long history of discrimination against Black and Latino workers, students, and faculty.

As a member of the Local 73 clerical bargaining committee in the 1990s, one of the big issues for our members was the disparity in pay between UIC and UIUC [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] civil service workers with the same titles. In 1998, when we brought the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus – including Barack Obama, then state senator from Hyde Park – to campus for hearings on discriminatory practices, we finally compelled management to address the issue. Assistant Chancellor in Labor and Employee Relations, Judson Mitchell, admitted across the table the reason that UIC workers were making an average of $1 or $2 an hour less than Urbana. He said it was the labor market. In other words, there were more people willing to work for less in Chicago when UIC was opened in 1965.

Of course, the reason that there were so many here willing to take less pay was the shadow of the plantation. The Great Migration brought 250,000 Black people to Chicago from the South over 50 years. Because of the system of Jim Crow disenfranchisement, or apartheid, many of them arrived penniless. The administration took advantage of this when they hired perhaps 1000 Black workers, starting them off well below the white workforce in Urbana Champaign, and this wage scale stayed in place until Local 73 grew strong enough to win the Urbana pay grades for all. By the way, management refused to consider any back pay for the years of discrimination.

Most of my co-workers are Black and Latino. You’re not fooling anyone. We see who you are. You don’t value the lives of workers, and the lives of Black and Latino workers you value even less.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #COVID19 #JuanMartinez #UniversityOfIllinoisAtUrbanaChampaign

UIC told: You don’t value the lives of workers, and the lives of Black, Latino workers even less.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the testimony of Joe Iosbaker to the September 10 University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Board of Trustees meeting. University of Chicago workers are preparing a major strike for safety, respect and wages.

I’m Joe Iosbaker, 30-year civil service employee at UIC

Juan Martinez was a surgical technologist in our hospital. He was my friend. He was a leader in his department, which is why his co-workers put him forward to be on the first Technical bargaining committee when they joined Local 73 in the early 2000s.

Juan died on April 27 from COVID-19.

Why did Juan and another SEIU Local 73 member die at UIC? Why did so many other members of Local 73 here get sick? I personally know of at least four who were on respirators, at least one who flatlined and had to be brought back, and at least four who are now in physical therapy to learn how to walk or talk again.

Why didn’t UIC management act earlier to protect its employees? Dr. Howard Ehrman of SPH wrote to the administration through the Academy listserv on February 27 to warn that the virus was going to spread dramatically, and yet management dragged their feet for two more weeks before moving to remote classes, and weeks more went by before they enacted inadequate measures to protect employees. In those weeks, management told Local 73 and members in the hospital not to wear masks because “it was a bad look.”

Why didn’t they protect us? Part of the answer is profit. Management uses profits for top administrative and administrative salaries. For example, the dean of the college of medicine makes almost $800,000 a year. Management also uses their profits to set aside monies for the new surgical center and other investments. They didn’t want to disrupt business. And they’re still doing that.

But it was also racism. UIC has a 50 year long history of discrimination against Black and Latino workers, students, and faculty.

As a member of the Local 73 clerical bargaining committee in the 1990s, one of the big issues for our members was the disparity in pay between UIC and UIUC [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] civil service workers with the same titles. In 1998, when we brought the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus – including Barack Obama, then state senator from Hyde Park – to campus for hearings on discriminatory practices, we finally compelled management to address the issue. Assistant Chancellor in Labor and Employee Relations, Judson Mitchell, admitted across the table the reason that UIC workers were making an average of $1 or $2 an hour less than Urbana. He said it was the labor market. In other words, there were more people willing to work for less in Chicago when UIC was opened in 1965.

Of course, the reason that there were so many here willing to take less pay was the shadow of the plantation. The Great Migration brought 250,000 Black people to Chicago from the South over 50 years. Because of the system of Jim Crow disenfranchisement, or apartheid, many of them arrived penniless. The administration took advantage of this when they hired perhaps 1000 Black workers, starting them off well below the white workforce in Urbana Champaign, and this wage scale stayed in place until Local 73 grew strong enough to win the Urbana pay grades for all. By the way, management refused to consider any back pay for the years of discrimination.

Most of my co-workers are Black and Latino. You’re not fooling anyone. We see who you are. You don’t value the lives of workers, and the lives of Black and Latino workers you value even less.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #Antiracism #COVID19 #JuanMartinez #UniversityOfIllinoisAtUrbanaChampaign

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.

1400 members of the Illinois Nurses Association at UIC have also voted to authorize a strike, which could begin as early as September 12.

The majority of UIC workers are Black or Latino who have faced a pattern of racist discrimination.

#ChicagoIL #UIC #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Strikes

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 went on strike together with the CTU. Local 73 ended their strike after seven days but refused to return to work until CTU had a contract. The two unions will picket Thursday morning, and then rally at 10:00 at City Hall to demand that Mayor Lori Lightfoot extend the school year so students won’t miss ten days of instruction.

Over 30,000 teachers and workers went out on strike on October 17 in a fight for decent contracts, wage increases for the lowest-paid workers, but mainly to demand an end to the system of educa-tional apartheid. Only 10% of the students in CPS are white, and those are mainly in the selective en-rollment schools. The working class Black and Latino communities have suffered through decades of inadequate funding, and in recent decades, the privatization of public education to the benefit of in-vestors.

On Tuesday, October 29, the striking teachers marched thousands strong to the site of the Lincoln Yards development. This will be the location of 1200 new housing units, which will be too expensive for most Chicagoans to afford. The development is being built on the edge of the wealthiest part of the city, Lincoln Park. It is constructed with over $1 billion of tax money that has been siphoned away from the schools and other needs of the city. This Tax Increment Financing (TIF) process is supposed to be used to help develop economically blighted areas, but almost none of the TIF money has done that. For years, these funds have been gifts to the wealthiest developers in the city, who also make big do-nations to politicians.

CTU organized the march to demand that Mayor Lori Lightfoot assign $38 million dollars from the bil-lions in the TIF funds to meet the basic needs for Chicago Public School students to help fund a nurse, a social worker and a library in every school.

While this was happening, a smaller group of educators held a sit-in at the offices of the Lincoln Yards developer, Sterling Bay. Nine were arrested when they refused police orders to leave the offices. The teachers were demanding that Sterling Bay give back $38 million of what they received from Lightfoot in order to close the deal.

From defensive to offensive

This strike is different than 2012 or 2016. In 2012, CTU struck against Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s attacks, such as his taking away a 4% contractual raise the year before the strike, raising class sizes even more, and over the years forcing them to teach to standardized testing.

According to Sarah Chambers, a member of the 40-person bargaining committee, and a special educa-tion teacher, “This tentative agreement has a lot of historic wins we’ve never had in any contract, in-cluding enforceable class size caps, a nurse in every school every day, sanctuary schools, and bilingual class size language. And most of these items were non strikeable issues by Illinois State Law 4.5.”

She ended, “No matter what is in the contract, we know we’ll have to continue to organize and fight in the schools, the communities and the streets.”

This year, in the words of Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, the demands in this contract showed that “Black people on the South Side and the West Side want the same things as white parents in this city.” Most white people in Chicago left the Chicago Public Schools 50 years ago for Catholic and other pri-vate schools.

SEIU Local 73 again a fighting union

In addition to the CTU and the fight for the needs of students, this strike has featured the rising of the Service Employees International Union Local 73, representing 7500 of the lowest-paid workers in the schools: bus aides, janitors, Special Education Classroom Assistants (SECAs) and security guards. In their first-ever CPS strike, these workers won raises of at least 16% over a five-year contract. SECAs will get language stopping them from having to oversee recess or the lunchroom instead of working with kids who need extra help.

Local 73 has a new leadership group under President Dian Palmer. In 2012, the union undercut the CTU strike by accepting a deal with CPS one week before the strike began. This time around, Local 73 rose along with the teachers against the continued attacks on public education.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #ChicagoTeachersUnion #Strikes #TeachersUnions

Chicago, IL – Members of the Chicago Teachers Union members and SEIU Local 73 are in the seventh day of their joint striking. As of Friday, October 25, this strike under Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now equal in length to the strike under Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012.

On Wednesday, October 23, over 30,000 teachers and staff members flooded downtown Chicago, shutting down large sections of the business district while Lightfoot made her budget address at City Hall. This movement in the street has forced progress at the table, after 10 months of slow bargaining. There has been progress in negotiations and the union hopes to have some concrete proposals to look over by Friday evening. The progress, however, is not enough.

On Thursday, October 24, 500 teachers attended a civil disobedience training in preparation for continued actions. This escalation of tactics will send a message to the ruling class: We mean business and aren’t compromising when it comes to getting students and their families what they need and deserve – smaller classes, a nurse every day, appropriate social worker ratios, protection for special education students, librarians, better wages for SEIU members and fully-funded schools.

When asked, a special education teacher said, “This strike is historical. We are in a position to bring about real change for our students, their schools and a large section of the working class. We will not stop until our demands are met and this city fully funds all its schools.”

#ChicagoIL #OppressedNationalities #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #ChicagoTeachersUnion #PublicSectorUnions #Strikes #TeachersUnions #2019ChicagoTeachersStrike

Chicago, IL – The joint strike by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and SEIU Local 73 continued October 18 and through the weekend as the office of Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued to refuse to meet the strikers' demands.

The teachers and school workers are on strike for “the schools our students deserve”: smaller class sizes, genuine sanctuary schools, and a nurse and librarian in every school. Among their demands are political demands, or what the CTU calls “bargaining for the common good.” These include the demand for affordable housing for working-class Chicagoans, something that the mayor refuses to put into the language of the contract but which the teachers say is a key issue to resolve before they can return to work.

On October 18, the second day of the strike, tens of thousands of teachers, school workers and supporters marched through downtown Chicago once again. Before that, the strikers had been picketing at every public school in the city. It was on these picket lines that anyone could see the broad support the strike has among the public.

Sean Orr, a UPS driver in the city, said that the support was unprecedented. “This entire week, there has not been a single block I have delivered on where at least one house didn't have a ‘I support Chicago teachers’ sign in the window,” Orr said. “Every picket line I've seen is greeted by horn honks and people stopping the picketers to ask for a selfie with them. It's incredible.”

Polls consistently show that the striking teachers have a greater share of public support than the mayor in these negotiations. It is time that the mayor's office meets the CTU/SEIU demands and give Chicago the school system that its children deserve.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #ChicagoTeachersUnion #Strikes #TeachersUnions