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As Chicago Punts On Apartment Safety, Denver Shows What’s Possible

December 4, 2023 Alex Nitkin, Next City. , , , , ,
The tenant of a two-story house in east Denver had been expecting Kevin Lewis when he knocked on her door this past June. After a brief introduction and a glance around the home, Lewis quickly checked the water pressure, power outlets and the cooling sources in each room. He reached a wiry arm up to a ceiling smoke alarm and pressed a button, prompting a chirp to echo through the house. “Music to my ears,” Lewis said, already halfway to the basement to make sure the boiler had a working gas line connection. Minutes later, Lewis was gone — on to the next house. Lewis wasn’t sent by the city to investigate a complaint, nor by a prospective buyer.

Pollution Displaces Black Residents; White Homeowners Profit

November 25, 2023 Adam Mahoney, In These Times. , , , , , , ,
Englewood Chicago — Deborah Payne’s neighborhood of 35 years on Chicago’s South Side no longer exists. Dirt piles tower where families once gathered for Sunday dinners in single- and multifamily homes. Concrete lots cover backyards where children watched fireworks and caught lightning bugs. Streets that maintained generations of Black Chicago razed and left empty for railway cars. Today, less than 10 blocks from Payne’s old neighborhood, sits the repercussions of diesel pollution caused by the expansion of a railyard. Over a decade ago, the city, along with railroad giant Norfolk Southern, announced a plan to buy out Payne’s 12-block community of more than 200 households to replace it with the freight yard.

Activists Disrupt Thanksgiving Parade: End Genocide, Don’t Celebrate It

November 24, 2023 Emma Lee and Kyle Thibodeau, Left Voice. , , , , , , , , ,
Today, pro-Palestine protestors disrupted Thanksgiving Day Parades in New York City and Detroit, all sending the same message: end genocide, don’t celebrate it. In Detroit, protestors marched in front of the Thanksgiving Day parade route carrying banners reading: “From Turtle Island to Palestine, genocide is a crime” and “Detroit stands with Gaza,” giving a spotlight to Palestine during Israel’s ongoing atrocities. In Manhattan, protestors disrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual corporate parade watched nationwide, with signs and banners reading “Genocide then, genocide now.” 

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).
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