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collective bargaining
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:47pm
Tue May 21

Unite Here Workers Oppose Pritzker Nomination For Commerce Secretary

Senate confirmation hearings for Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker’s nomination for U.S. Secretary of Commerce are scheduled for Thursday, but workers from the her family-owned hotel chain are already voicing their opposition to the selection.

“This is not somebody we want in Washington; this is a lady whose business model hurts workers,” said Demetrius Jackson, 25, a lifelong Chicagoan and convention service houseman at the Hyatt Regency Chicago for six years.

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:46pm
Tue May 14

Workers, Aldermen Want Emanuel To Push Controversial O'Hare Contractor To Recognize Janitors' Desire For SEIU Representation (VIDEO) (UPDATED)

After more than 70 percent of O’Hare’s recently hired janitors voted in favor of SEIU* Local 1 union representation, a small group of workers gathered with supporting aldermen at City Hall Tuesday to urge Mayor Rahm Emanuel to push the contractor to recognize the union.

“In a climate where everybody is trying to figure out how to squeeze the bottom line, the only way to protect workers is to have union representation,” said Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) in an interview with Progress Illinois.

Munoz said contractors, such as the O’Hare janitors’ employer, United Maintenance, Inc., are “squeezing wages.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
7:46pm
Tue May 7

Advocates For Women’s, Workers' Rights Say Congress Must Reject The Working Families Flexibility Act

More than 150 women’s, worker and civil rights organizations sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives Monday urging them to reject the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013.

The measure, H.R. 1406, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R, AL-2), is expected to go up for a full House vote Wednesday.

Opponents of the bill, which has 168 Republican cosponsors, say it is an empty promise that would do more harm than good for working families.

“The very fact that this is entitled the Working Families Flexibility Act is a joke,” U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, a Democrat from Maryland, said on a conference call with reporters Monday. “It’s a lot of flexibility for employers and zero flexibility for working families. In fact, you could call it the ‘working families to death act,’ because that’s what would result.”

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:46pm
Wed Apr 24

Unite Here, Hilton Reach Contract Agreement Without A Lengthy Battle

Four months before their existing contracts were set to expire, more than 600 Hilton Hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 1 and Local 450 have reached a five-year contract settlement with the hotel chain.

Workers’ from the Drake, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago Hilton, and Hilton O’Hare voted Saturday to ratify the agreement with the Virginia-based hotel chain, well before the August 31 contract expiration date. 

“This is really significant in that this has all been done before the expiration of the current contract,” said Carly Karmel, spokesperson for Unite Here. 

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
2:05pm
Fri Apr 19

UIC Graduate Workers Hold Strike Authorization Vote

Graduate workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are voting on whether or not to authorize a strike after negotiations with university officials over a living wage fell short of their demands Wednesday night, according to members of the Graduate Employees Organization.

The voting process to authorize a possible strike began Thursday and will continue through Monday, which is the end of the union's next bargaining session with UIC's administration.

“I don’t think most of our members want to strike," said Neri Sandoval, a graduate assistant in UIC's Department of African-American Studies. "I think it’s something that, I believe, is an outcome of a series of events the university has led to."

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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
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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