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Living wage
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
5:20pm
Thu Apr 18

SEIU Security Guards Brave Bad Weather To Rally For A Fair Contract (VIDEO)

This is the third and final week of collective bargaining before the SEIU* Local 1 security officers’ contracts are set to expire, and despite a thunderstorm and flood warnings, union members gathered at the Thompson Center late Wednesday afternoon to rally for higher wages.

“You’re sending a very strong message today, that no matter what the weather is like you still demand a good contract,” said Efrain Elias, a union representative for SEIU Local 1, to a group of approximately 50 demonstrators.

“We are not going to let a little rain slow us up,” he said.

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
2:02pm
Wed Apr 17

Workers Advocate For Living Wage At Peet's Coffee & Tea

Caribou Coffee locations across Illinois closed their doors Sunday, but many will soon be rebranded as Peet’s Coffee & Tea. Workers who stay on-board during the rebranding transition though, will be walking into a job that pays poverty wages, according to a group of workers from one Chicago branch of Peet’s.

Wages paid by Peet’s, and the limited number of available hours, forces workers into poverty, according to Joshua van Cleef, 28, a worker of more than one year at Peet’s Coffee & Tea store 403 in Chicago’s North Side neighborhood of Lincoln Park.

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
8:58pm
Fri Apr 12

Amid Contract Negotiations, SEIU Security Officers Rally For Higher Wages (VIDEO)

In anticipation of next week’s economic bargaining, members of SEIU* Local 1 staged a protest for higher wages in downtown Chicago Thursday.

It was the third day of bargaining between SEIU and the Building and Owners Management Association (BOMA), and the two parties were able to come to an agreement and complete the language portion of contract negotiations. Next week, the union plans to introduce an economic package that includes a “decent raise increase” during contract negotiations.

More than 100 union members called for higher wages as they rallied at the Thompson Center and marched through downtown Chicago.

“I want to be able to have money to put aside for my grandson, he and his mother should not have to suffer,” said Denise Dawson, 60, a security officer and member of the bargaining committee for SEIU Local 1.

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:03pm
Tue Apr 9

Equal Pay Advocates, Lawmakers Rally To Close The Gender Wage Gap (VIDEO)

Equal pay advocates gathered at the Daley Center today and said it’s time to end the gender wage gap, which could be closed in part by passage of the federal Paycheck Fairness Act. Progress Illinois was there for the rally.

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:39pm
Mon Apr 8

Schneider Launches Initiative To Support Small Businesses

Freshman lawmaker U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D, IL-10) met with constituents in Gurnee today in an effort to better understand the needs of small business owners in his district.

“If I’m going to represent the district, I have to understand what makes up the district” said Schneider, who has visited 17 small businesses since taking office earlier this year.

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
2:58pm
Fri Apr 5

Security Officers Rally For Higher Wages On First Day Of Contract Negotiations (VIDEO)

Carrying signs that read “Good Jobs, Safe Chicago” and chanting about higher wages, security officers represented by the SEIU* Local 1 rallied at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago Thursday for a pay increase. 

Thursday was the first day of bargaining with the Building and Owners Management Association (BOMA) for a new union contract. The rally, attended by approximately 70 union members, was also in observation of the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assasination.

“Dr. King lived his life, and lost his life, for a just society,” said Michelle Jackson, a security officer of seven years at 550 W. Jackson Blvd., in downtown Chicago.

“We need to do our part and start with working together to create better jobs for our families and our neighborhoods.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
3:46pm
Mon Mar 25

McDonald's Guestworkers Hold Teach-In Against Employee Exploitation And Abuse (VIDEO)

Some McDonald’s student guestworkers held a teach-in at the chain’s flagship store today in River North to show their solidarity for organizing Chicago fast-food workers and to expose the threats of deportation and severe exploitation they say they have faced at the hands of the company.

Standing in support of the guestworkers, members of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, a union for downtown fast-food and retail workers that is pushing for a $15 minimum wage, discussed documented and undocumented workers’ rights to organize.

“We have rights with documents or without,” Lorraine Chavez, outreach coordinator with the Fight for 15 campaign, told the student guestworkers, who originally worked in McDonald’s restaurants in central Pennsylvania, and their allies inside the Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Steven Ross Johnson
2:25pm
Mon Mar 25

Robin Kelly Supports Local Security Officers In Their Call For A Living Wage (VIDEO)

Citing a lack of economic opportunities as the driving force behind the high rate of gun violence in Chicago over the last several years, Illinois 2nd Congressional District candidate Robin Kelly stood alongside union security officers Saturday to call on the city’s downtown building owners to provide fairer compensation for their emergency “first responders.”

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