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FBI Attempts To Question Chicago International Solidarity Activists

November 19, 2023 Fight Back News!. , , ,
On November 15, three FBI agents came to the Chicago home of an international solidarity activist in Chicago who had traveled to Venezuela. The activist wasn’t home, but the agent in charge gave the landlord his card. He asked to be let into the building, but the landlord refused and instead reported the visit to the tenant. The activist called the People’s Law Office, a well-known legal collective that defends political activists targeted by repression. The People’s Law Office attorney learned that the FBI claims to be conducting an investigation, that the activist, who the FBI would like to question, is not a target, and that it may involve a person, entity or trend (political/ideological) that FBI claims to have concerns about.

Students For A Democratic Society National Convention Held In Chicago

October 22, 2023 Shaine Carrol-Frey, Fight Back News!. , , , , ,
Chicago, IL – On October 14 and 15, roughly 160 members and affiliates of the New Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) from over 20 campuses met for their annual National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The students came from all over the U.S. to unite under the slogan of “Students Defend Education, Unions Strike Back!” to highlight both the attacks of education, especially ethnic studies such as Black studies and American Indian studies, and the increased level of union activity in 2023. Attendees listened to panels and gave workshops over a variety of topics, sharing strategy and tactics with SDS chapters from across the country.

Federal Complaint Alleges University Conspired Against Palestinians

September 29, 2023 Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada. , , , , ,
Students at the University of Illinois Chicago have filed a federal complaint against the school, alleging that staff discriminated against them because of their ethnicity and national origin. The seven students, six Palestinian Americans and one Jewish American, attempted to join an informational session over the videoconferencing platform Zoom in January about a study abroad summer program in Israel. During and after the video call, students say they were racially profiled, harassed and silenced by university staff and, later, by campus police. In the Zoom call, UIC staff denied the students with Arab and Muslim names admission to the session while other students who had Western-sounding names were able to participate.

Illinois Just Ended Cash Bail; Here’s How Organizers Made It Happen

September 19, 2023 Alice Herman, In These Times. , , ,
Illinois is poised to eliminate the use of cash bail in the state’s carceral system following the passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act by the state legislature on January 13. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has said he favors ending cash bail, is expected to sign the bill into law. The policy of conditional pretrial detention — holding accused people in jail until their trial, unless they can afford to pay bail — is currently practiced in all 50 states, although New Jersey did drastically reduce the use of cash bail. It’s a practice that necessarily penalizes poor people and disproportionately affects Black and Brown people, already overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons.

Workers At A Chicago Safety-Net Hospital Went On Strike

August 16, 2023 Jeff Schuhrke, In These Times. , , , , , ,
Chicago, Illinois - Following an 11-day strike that galvanized a Chicago West Side neighborhood, around 200 hospital workers treating uninsured and underinsured patients have won and ratified a new contract they believe will help them better serve the community. Members of SEIU Healthcare, the mostly Black employees include nursing assistants, emergency room technicians, mental health workers and janitorial staff at Loretto Hospital, a 122-bed medical facility in the Austin neighborhood. Loretto is a privately run but publicly funded ​“safety-net” hospital, treating low-income patients regardless of their insurance, especially around issues such as addiction and mental health.

Hundreds Of Chicago Teamsters Stand Up To UPS Greed

July 15, 2023 Eliza Schultz and Haden Kersting, Fight Back News!. , , , , , ,
On July 14, 300 workers turned out for the latest practice picket and rally at the UPS Jefferson Street Hub on the Near West Side of Chicago. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 705 and Local 710 organized this event, which was the largest of many practice pickets in the Chicago area that occurred throughout the week. Flyers promoting the event read, “Chicago Teamsters stand up to UPS greed!” The event comes as contract negotiations between the IBT and United Parcel Service remain halted. The Teamsters already negotiated a major win for full-time drivers with the end of the two-tier classification system, known as 22.4.

Nurses Say Illinois Hospital Plagued With Unsafe Staffing

July 4, 2023 Amie Stager, The Real News Network. , , , , ,
Tania is a mother of four and a new registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Illinois, also known as St. Joe’s. On May 30, at a bargaining meeting with management to negotiate for the union’s next contract, she gave testimony about how her employer allegedly treated her for bringing up safety issues. “I was two weeks off orientation and I was given four acute care patients. I texted our manager… and said ‘this is a recipe for disaster. I can’t handle this,’” she said in her testimony, which was emailed to Workday Magazine by her union, Illinois Nurses Association (INA).

Drag Performers Resist Anti-Trans Legislation

June 6, 2023 Henry Hicks IV, In These Times. , , ,
More than a thousand Chicagoans of all ages, genders and sexualities packed tightly into the Metro for its sold-out ​“Chicago Loves Drag!” show on April 14. The balconies overflowed with people dressed in exuberant color, eagerly peering over one another to get a view of the night’s 41 performers. Drag kings and queens made the room their own, claiming the audience’s full attention with lip syncs, comedy acts and dance routines, a radiant variety show highlighting the broad — and liberatory — entertainment that drag offers. Proceeds benefited the work of LGBTQ organizations in Chicago and Tennessee.

As Mayor, Brandon Johnson Should Establish A Public Bank In Chicago

May 4, 2023 Saqib Bhatti, In These Times. , , ,
When the cryptocurrency exchange FTX opened its US headquarters in Chicago last May, Mayor Lori Lightfoot heralded it as a win for communities that historically had been denied access to quality banking and financial services. She announced that FTX would donate $1 million to help expand a program to provide formerly incarcerated Chicagoans with a universal basic income. She calledthe initiative ​“a mechanism and a tool to bring historically underrepresented and ignored populations into the world of crypto so they can take ownership and control over their own financial destiny.”

As Negotiations Loom, Closure Shows Automakers Using Same Playbook

April 19, 2023 Nick Livick, Labor Notes. , , ,
On March 1, Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) “idled” the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois—putting 1,350 people out of work indefinitely, with the threat hanging over them that the plant might stay closed forever. Is Stellantis hurting for money? Absolutely not. In fact, the corporation has recently had some of its best years on record. This is a clear attempt to use the plant as a cudgel, as the Big 3 automakers head into negotiations with the United Auto Workers this fall. It’s a signal that, despite record profits, the companies will remain true to their same old playbook—holding people’s livelihoods over their heads and holding communities at ransom.

Repatriation Reform Bill Unanimously Passes IL House Of Representatives

March 31, 2023 Logan Jaffe, ProPublica. , , ,
Illinois - For more than 30 years, tribal nations have been asking the state of Illinois and its state-run institutions to return the remains of their ancestors for reburial within the state. For just as long, Illinois has made that nearly impossible. But now, legislation moving through the Illinois General Assembly would finally pave the way for the remains of thousands of Native Americans to be repatriated. The legislation, which unanimously passed the Illinois House of Representatives this month, comes after nearly two years of consultations among the leaders of more than two dozen tribal nations, the Illinois State Museum and the state Department of Natural Resources.

Grocery Teamsters Face Firing And Retaliation For Exercising Their Rights

March 11, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Workers couldn’t wear a sticker or button, because what if it fell into the fruits and vegetables they packaged for the Anthony Marano Company, a major distributor of produce in Chicago and the greater Midwest for restaurants and grocery chains including Aldi’s, Sysco, and Pete’s Fresh Market? They couldn’t do a red T-shirt day; the temperatures are frigid in the warehouse, and workers must cover themselves in layers to keep warm. But they are allowed to wear hats over their hairnets. Luckily, there was a crafty person on the organizing team. When Latino Teamsters in Local 703 needed to take collective action to build unity and confidence after the company banned them from distributing union leaflets, they created baseball caps—emblazoned with an equestrian Teamster logo and the Chicago city colors (blue, white, and red).

No Cop City Anywhere

February 23, 2023 Benji Hart, In These Times. , , , , , , ,
Chicago, Illinois and Atlanta, Georgia - A monumental struggle is currently taking place in the Weelaunee Forest in DeKalb County near Atlanta, Georgia. The local government plans to level 85 acres of the forest to build a $90 million police training facility. The natural environment that would be lost is not only a precious recreational resource for Atlanta residents, but a crucial bulwark protecting against flooding and other climate change-related disasters, which are on the rise. Despite city leaders’ commitment to ramming the project through undemocratically, a decentralized campaign known as #StopCopCity is fighting back.

She Refused To Take A Drug Test And Was Fired

February 22, 2023 Sarah Lazare, In These Times. , , ,
Alicia had been an employee of the Rich Products Corporation food processing plant in Crest Hill, Ill. for three years, she says, when her arm was caught in a machine, an injury the company would invoke the next day to justify her abrupt firing. She had worked her way up to the position of lead operator of a machine that makes trays for the frozen pizzas produced at the plant. Rich Products, headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., is a major manufacturer of frozen foods, with annual sales of more than $3.3 billion, making it the 117th largest private company in the United States.

Victory Against Polluter Points Way To Clean, Green, And Fully Funded Schools

February 1, 2023 Lauren Bianchi, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Chicago, Illinois - For two years, teachers and staff in my workplace, George Washington High School, helped lead a community campaign to stop a hazardous industrial metal shredder, General Iron, from moving a few blocks from our school. Repeating a historic pattern, city officials facilitated General Iron’s planned move from the wealthy and white Lincoln Park neighborhood where it had operated for decades to the working-class, majority Latino Southeast Side. Our campaign won a major victory when we pressured Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Department of Public Health into denying the final operating permit for General Iron. It took years of mobilizing, street protest, and a month-long hunger strike to force the mayor to do the right thing. The experience of Chicago Teachers Union members in the #StopGeneralIron campaign highlights the power of union members when we stand shoulder to shoulder with environmental justice activists to demand safe living and working conditions.
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