Tag Archives: Strike

What to know about the Chicago hotel worker strike

Sep 11, 2018 | kimberlykaczmarek

 

Big John and Ramblin’ Ray explain why housekeepers, doormen, cooks, bartenders, room service attendants and more — whose contracts expired Aug. 31 — are on strike. The union that represents the workers, UNITE HERE Local 1, says that 6,000 workers are covered by those expired contracts, though it isn’t clear how many people have actually walked off the job. The strike is happening at 25 downtown Chicago hotels, including the JW Mariott, the Palmer House Hilton, the Hyatt Regency, and the Sheraton Grand. Contracts cover 30 hotels in Chicago, and the five not yet striking are in labor disputes and could join, the union says.

Strikers primary demand to have year-round health insurance guarantee into their new contracts. Learn more on who’s striking and the strike at chicagohotelstrike.org

 

CPS seeking order to stop 1-day teachers strike

Mar 17, 2017 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Chicago Public Schools is seeking a legal order to stop a potential one-day Chicago Teachers Union strike, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Attorneys for CPS filed a motion with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, seeking an injunction that would block any potential strike, saying the union’s previous one-day strike in 2016 was “illegal.”

“CTU is poised to engage in another unlawful strike,” attorneys for CPS wrote.

Earlier this month, the CTU’s House of Delegates agreed to discuss the possibility of a one-day strike on May 1. The proposed strike would be in response to the prospect of losing 13 school days at the end of the year as well as CPS’ lack of a long-term funding plan.

It would be the second one-day strike by the CTU in 13 months.

Last year, the Labor Relations Board found that the April 1, 2016, teacher’s strike was likely illegal because the union had not completed a fact-finding process.

CPS is asking the board to issue a new injunction that would prohibit any future strikes that did not abide by state law.

“Because this threatened strike, as was the April 1st strike, is unlawful and is exactly the sort of continued unlawful action contemplated by the IELRB’s prior Order, the CBE respectfully requests that the IELRB immediately reiterate and reauthorize its direction that its General Counsel seek injunctive relief,” CPS lawyers wrote.

The union plans to vote on the May 1 one-day strike on April 5. The proposed strike would coincide with International Labor Day.

At a CTU delegates meeting earlier this month, the agenda item read “Resolved that the CTU delegates will conduct discussions and hold meetings in their workplaces about a May 1st strike for revenue in solidarity with labor and immigrants, with the aim of taking a vote in the regular April 5th House of Delegates meeting on whether or not to recommend a one-day strike to the CTU membership.”

— Chicago Sun-Times

© Copyright 2017 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

State’s Largest Labor Union Could Strike

Feb 23, 2017 | WLS-AM Staff

By Nick Gale, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO)  State, county and municipal workers have voted to authorize a strike. The results of a vote released Thursday show that 81-percent of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that voted, favored a strike.

AFSCME executive director Roberta Lynch says the vote gives the union’s executive board the go ahead to call a strike “if no other path forward can be found.”

AFSCME, which has some 38,000 members, has been unable to agree on a new contract with the governor for the past two years.

In a written response, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s general counsel says the vote was “an attack on our state’s hardworking taxpayers.”

@ 2017 WLS-AM News
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ASPIRA teachers plan to take strike vote on Wednesday

Feb 21, 2017 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Teachers in the ASPIRA network of charter schools on the Northwest Side will vote Wednesday on whether or not to strike after 10 months of “stalled” contract negotiations.

“Negotiations have stalled over [a] lack of transparency and accountability in finances and foundering leadership at the network’s most senior levels, threatening conditions in classrooms,” ASPIRA teachers, who are members of the ChiACTS Local 4343, said in a statement Monday.

The network operates a middle school and three high schools on the Northwest Side. A strike by ASPIRA teachers would be the first at a charter school anywhere in the country, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

ASPIRA will spend more than 40 percent of its budget on overhead this year, including senior staff salary, compared to the 25 percent spent by Chicago Public Schools, the union said.

Last year, Chicago’s UNO network of charter schools narrowly avoided a strike, just days after the Chicago Teachers Union reached an agreement with Chicago Public Schools that averted the union’s second strike since 2012.

ASPIRA teachers said they blame the network’s struggles solely on board chairman Fernando Grillo, who has been in charge for seven years.

“In the last 6 weeks alone, the charter network’s CEO and Chief Academic Officer have been removed, only one principal who started the school year remains in that position, and the system’s COO — who had essentially been running the charter school network — recently resigned,” the teachers’ statement said.

The results of the strike vote will be announced at a rally for the teachers Wednesday afternoon at the ASPIRA campus at 3121 N. Pulaski.

© Copyright 2017 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

O’Hare workers to strike on nationwide ‘Day of Disruption’

Nov 22, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Organizers of a Nov. 29 nationwide day of protests by hourly workers say a planned strike at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago is only a part of their push for a $15 hourly wage and union rights.

In a news release, organizers say thousands of workers plan to walk off the job at McDonald’s restaurants and other fast-food spots in more than 340 cities. The planned “Day of Disruption” marks the fourth anniversary of the first protests at McDonald’s restaurants in New York.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1 said Monday that hundreds of workers will strike that day at O’Hare, one of the nation’s busiest airports.

O’Hare is the only airport where workers plan to strike, though organizers are planning protests at other airports.

The Chicago Department of Aviation says it doesn’t anticipate any disruption in service.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</em

Chicago teachers, school district continues contract talks

Oct 10, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Negotiators for the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools continue to meet in an effort to reach a contract and avert a threatened teacher strike.

The two sides were quiet Sunday, a day after the union’s 40-member big bargaining unit met to review its position on a potential contract. The bargaining unit — representing about 28,000 members — rejected the district’s last offer in February. The teachers union has set a Tuesday strike date.

Union leaders have outlined a $200 million wish list to offset cuts to pay and benefits.

CPS has said it continues to work within the framework of the offer it made in January, which included pay increases and other items such as a cap on the number of privately operated charter schools in Chicago.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CPS Preps For Possible Strike

Sep 28, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

By Nick Gale, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) Chicago Public Schools are preparing ahead of a possible teachers strike.

The school board has given the go ahead to to administrators to start making contingency plans. CPS will work with the Chicago Park District and other agencies to provide places for students to go during the school day. CPS says it is prepared to spend some $15 million to keep kids occupied.

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said today that they will continue to listen and negotiate with the Chicago Teachers Union.

The Chicago Teachers Union said Monday that the majority of their members have given the green light to strike. The union’s House of Delegates could decide Wednesday to give the mandatory 10 day notice needed before teachers strike. That earliest that could be is October 11.

 

@ 2016 WLS-AM News

 

Moody’s pushes CPS credit rating deeper into junk status

Sep 27, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Moody’s Investors Service pushed the debt of the Chicago Public Schools further into junk territory on the same day the district’s teachers threatened to strike.

In downgrading its debt Monday from B2 to B3, Moody’s called CPS’ financial condition “precarious” and “acute.” The new rating is one notch above the C level Moody’s describes as “speculative (and) of poor standing, and are subject to very high credit risk.”

Moody’s said its revised rating “reflects the expectation that the district’s credit pressures will intensify in the current fiscal year.”

In announcing its rating move, Moody’s referenced “strong employee bargaining groups that impede cost-cutting efforts.” The Chicago Teachers Union announced Monday its members voted 95 percent in favor to authorize a strike if necessary to obtain a new contract.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Chicago teachers approve a strike

Sep 26, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

(CHICAGO) Members of the Chicago teachers union have voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike. The union says 95 percent of it’s members voted to walk off the job in balloting that took place last week, and over 90 percent cast ballots.

No date has been set for a walkout, which would be the second teacher’s strike in the city in the past four years. By law, the teachers cannot go on strike until at least ten days after a strike date is set.

The teachers have been working under terms of their old contract, which expired last year. Negotiations are continuing on a new pact, after the Board of Education passed a budget that is heavily contingent on state funding which may not materialize amid the budget standoff between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

The CTU House of Delegates is set to meet this Wednesday.

@ 2016 WLS-AM News

Spotlight on Chicago teacher contracts on first day of class

Sep 7, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) The spotlight is on contract talks between teachers and officials with the nation’s third-largest school district as Chicago students attend the first day of school.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis both held public appearances Tuesday. The question of whether there could be a strike this fall lingers.

The contract for about 27,000 union members expired in June 2015.

The two sides have been negotiating on issues including cost-of-living raises, pensions and other benefits. Earlier this year, the union’s bargaining team rejected a district proposal.

Lewis declined Tuesday to discuss the latest status. She says union members are meeting this week and could consider a strike authorization vote.

School district officials say the earlier agreement rejected by the union is a “fair foundation.”

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Chicago Teachers Threaten Strike

Aug 9, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890

(CHICAGO) In an effort at shared sacrifice, Chicago Public Schools is asking teachers to pay more for their pensions. It’s a teachers contract similar to one that Chicago Teachers Union members rejected in 2016, and it’s leaving a bad taste in CTU president Karen Lewis’ mouth.

“If the Board of Education imposes a 7-percent slash in our salaries, we will move to strike,” Lewis said Monday afternoon.

But CPS CEO Forrest Claypool says everyone has to help in solving a $1 billion budget deficit.

“The state stepped up. Our local taxpayers stepped up. CPS has stepped up. We need teachers to be part of the solution to protect their own jobs and pensions but also to protect our kids and to show good faith to those hard working taxpayers who are sacrificing for them and our schools,” Claypool said.

The proposed budget is set for a vote on August 24. Negotiations between CPS and the CTU continue.

Chicago teachers set to protest

Jun 22, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

By John Dempsey, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) Chicago Teachers Union members are planning to march and protest this morning in downtown Chicago, seeking greater funding for education.

Teacher’s Union VIce President Jesse Sharkey told “The Big John Howell Show” on WLS that the answer to the school funding crisis is for the State Legislature to impose a graduated income tax that would have wealthy Illinoisans paying more.

“Really what I think we need is progressive revenue, revenue that comes from the people with the most ability to pay, added into the school funding formula. Then have the funding formula reflect things like student need, high concentration of poverty, high concentration of English language learners, some of the things that makes educating students difficult in Chicago.”

The opening of Chicago Public Schools this fall is in question because the Illinois Legislature has failed to pass a budget that would fund Chicago schools.

Chicago Teachers Ready to Walk

Dec 14, 2015 | WLS-AM Staff

By Bill Cameron, WLS News

The Chicago Teachers Union has voted 96% in favor of authorizing a strike if necessary.

What the strike authorization vote means is that a teachers strike could be called as early as late March or early April but as late as the beginning of the next school year in September. Legal fact-finding has to occur first.

But why would a strike help the teachers cause? CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey says it would put pressure on for more money for schools.

“We’re not going to take it lying down – that there are just these big cuts,” said Sharkey.  “We’re not going to take it as a fait accompli that the only way they can do this is cutting.  Our members will not go to work if we have to – you know, be in the streets in the city of Chicago to demand justice for our schools.”

Rather than a strike, Mayor Emanuel says the teachers union should join him in lobbying Springfield to give Chicago more money, but Sharkey says the current Springfield plan is a road to nowhere.

 

@ 2015 WLS News

 

Cabdrivers to strike over airport rideshare pickups

Oct 8, 2015 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Taxi drivers across Chicago are planning to hold a 24-hour strike to protest the city’s decision to let Uber and other rideshare services pick up passengers at the city’s two airports.

The work stoppage is set to run from Thursday into Friday morning, according to a statement from the United Taxidrivers Community Council.

“The Mayor has allowed Uber and other rideshares to take over much of the cab business, and allowing them in the airports will finish us off, which is apparently his plan,” the statement read.

In response to the planned strike, the Chicago Department of Aviation released a statement encouraging passengers to take GO Airport Express shuttle buses or the CTA Blue and Orange lines to O’Hare and Midway airports.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

U of C, nurses union reach ‘tentative agreement’ to avoid strike

Apr 28, 2015 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) The University of Chicago Medical Center and the National Nurses United union have reached a “tentative agreement” for a new collective bargaining agreement, staving off a potential nurses strike, officials announced Monday.

The deal was reached just before midnight Monday, according to a statement from the University of Chicago.

With a deal in place, the nurses union has withdrawn its notice to strike, which was scheduled to begin April 30, according to the statement.

Specifics of the agreement were not disclosed.

Last January, members of the nurses union voted to authorize a strike.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

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