They won!.
The historical 10-day strike by employees at medical facilities in 3 Illinois cities led to a full-scale triumph, with every demand fulfilled. Latinx and black females employees played a decisive function in arranging the strike and steering it to its successful conclusion..
Chicago health employees in the Strike for Our Lives. Over 4,000 members of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 73 released an unreasonable labor practice strike on Sept. 14 at University of Illinois medical facilities in Chicago, Peoria and Rockford. After working without a contract for over a year, the employees had had enough! As a danger, the employers brought in strikebreakers from out of state in advance of the strike.
This task action showed the decision and unity of medical center workers: maintenance, custodial, clerical and technical workers, physical therapists and other experts. It pushed the UI-Chicago bosses to offer in..
The negotiated, tentative, multi-year contracts ensure pay increases for all employees, including a $15 minimum wage in Chicago for those on the lowest-paid scale, precaution to deal with COVID-19, sufficient staffing and security versus management outsourcing of union tasks, reported the unions bargaining committee on Sept. 24..
SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer said the settlement “is a triumph for all working individuals in Illinois and shows whats possible when employees unify and demand that companies appreciate us, protect us and pay us. I am so pleased with the Black and Brown women who led this strike, who convinced their colleagues striking was worth the risk..
“They were out there at dawn every day demanding justice for important workers. (seiu.org, Sept. 24).
We are proud and loud!.
We have shown our collective power through the execution of this strike. The employees will “continue combating up until justice, fairness, equity and respect become the norm at UIC.”.
Striking nurses at UIC Hospital signed up with SEIU Local 73 employees on the picket lines and at a Sept. 18 rally in downtown Chicago. They struck for 7 days beginning Sept. 12, with demands consisting of a prohibition on outsourcing of union nurses tasks to improperly trained, nonunion nurses. Although health center management got an injunction to bar nurses from striking, 800 UIC nurses defied the bosses and picketed.
The Illinois Nurses Association reports a tentative arrangement has actually been reached, granting pandemic hazard pay, hiring of more nurses and arrangement of more PPE. The 1,400-person bargaining system will vote Sept. 28 on whether to authorize the agreement, the same day as Local 73s agreement vote. (Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 24).
Teamsters and Electrical Workers (IBEW) locals honored the SEIU Local 73 picket lines and joined strikers in uniformity, as did private union members. These bold workers revealed that even in the anti-labor Trump era, a strong, united strike force can win.
Women organize!
Numerous union organizing drives and task actions have actually been led by females this year in defiance of the antilabor, pro-corporate Trump administration. Trumps appointees to the so-called Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board, in addition to the Supreme Court, have assaulted and weakened unions and employees rights.
In July, in a historical, landslide vote, child care service providers in California voted to unionize– a stunning triumph for the U.S. labor movement. They voted to develop and be represented by Child Care Providers United, a cooperation among United Domestic Workers of America/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3930 and SEIU Locals 99 and 521.
This labor force is composed primarily of women– Black, Latinx and immigrant– making this victory even more considerable as part of the general defend racial, gender and economic justice..
Nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., voted to unionize in an NLRB election Sept. 16, in what National Nurses United called the “largest healthcare facility union victory in the South considering that 1975.”.
And signed up nurses at Alameda Hospital and San Leandro Hospital in California plan a five-day strike for Oct. 7 to require management secure patients security and provide sufficient staffing and PPE during the pandemic, reports the NNUs website. The California Nurses Association said Sept. 26 that management has actually haggled in bad faith and taken punitive actions against nurses..
These righteous struggles show that workers are strong jointly and can battle and win, regardless of federal government and business hostility to the international working class and their companies. These vibrant actions boost all employees– organized and unorganized..
Extra sources: AFSCME, National Nurses United.
This material was originally published here.

Chicago health employees in the Strike for Our Lives. After working without an agreement for over a year, the workers had had enough! “They were out there at dawn every day requiring justice for necessary employees. The employees will “continue battling up until justice, fairness, equity and respect end up being the standard at UIC.”.
Striking nurses at UIC Hospital signed up with SEIU Local 73 employees on the picket lines and at a Sept. 18 rally in downtown Chicago.