Posts tagged Illinois
20 healthcare strikes in 2026
September 28, 2026 // Union activity in healthcare continues in 2026, with 20 reported strikes since the beginning of the year. Some of these actions involve healthcare workers and leaders across hospitals and clinics in multiple states.
Commentary: Far-Left Agendas, Funded by Union Dues: The Truth About Big Labor’s Radical Shift
September 25, 2026 // As CPAW has highlighted before, union members are shifting. More union households voted for Donald Trump and Republican candidates in 2024 than at any point in modern polling history. Rank-and-file workers are increasingly aligning with conservative priorities. But union leadership has refused to follow their members. Instead of representing the people paying the bills, labor executives are doubling down on progressive extremism, aggressively spending members' own money to fight against the very policies their workers support.
Illinois’ new rideshare union law could hurt drivers, passengers
September 23, 2026 // The law could lead to job losses for rideshare drivers if they become more expensive to the companies than emerging self-driving technologies. Companies such as Waymo are already replacing human drivers with autonomous vehicles. In February, Waymo started the process of mapping out the city of Chicago for its fleet of driverless vehicles and announced that “we look forward to serving the city in the future.” While autonomous vehicles haven’t rolled out in Illinois yet, Waymo will be ready if lawmakers approve legislation to allow them to operate.
Thousands of downtown Chicago hotel workers vote to authorize strike
September 23, 2026 // The union said the last large-scale strike at downtown Chicago hotels was in 2018, when workers at 26 hotels went on strike. During that strike, customers complained about dirty beds, long check-in lines, and other issues, while people who live downtown got fed up with noise from nonstop picket lines. All of the affected hotels reached contract agreements with workers within a month of the 2018 strike.
Commentary: Are Unions Rising from the Political Grave?
September 21, 2026 // Here again, however, there may be less than meets the eye. Despite its surprising bipartisan support, the FLCA would raise significant constitutional questions if enacted. By relying on a government-mandated arbitration panel to resolve labor disputes, the law effectively empowers the state to impose contractual terms on private parties—a form of what constitutional lawyers call “state action.” As attorneys Alex MacDonald and Vinnie Vernuccio observe: “[S]tate action opens the door to a slew of constitutional requirements and restrictions, notably to protect rights of free speech and association.”
Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read
September 19, 2026 // Eight of the ten states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers' unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers' unions. Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.
Michigan earns ‘D’ in government union, worker freedom report
September 10, 2026 // The report called many of these actions taken by states and unions “anti-freedom” proposals which leave workers confused on their rights and obligations. “Union executives are spending tens of millions of dollars to rewrite the rules of the game and bolster their political machine in every state, at the expense of freedom for government employees,” Osborne said. “State lawmakers across the country must stand up against anti-freedom labor proposals to ensure that every American worker has the right to choose whether or not to associate with a union, without coercion or fear, and that their hard-earned dollars don’t fund a political agenda they don’t support.”
Report: The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
September 10, 2026 // Union executives are prioritizing recruitment. The fastest-growing category of public sector labor legislation expands collective bargaining into new workplaces. On the strength of these new laws, union executives are slowly replacing their membership losses since 2018. From 2018 to 2025, the country’s four largest government unions report a net decline in membership of 87,919, or 1.3 percent. However, they also report a collective gain of 232,502 members, or 3.5 percent since 2024. This report awards full letter-grade increases to Idaho (now A) and Louisiana (now B) due to their adoption of pro-worker labor reforms this past legislative session. However, the drops in grades—Nebraska (D), Nevada (D), and Rhode Island (F)—are the result of these states prioritizing union executives over workers and enacting laws helping unions recruit, politick, organize, and strike. Thirteen states now have an “A” or “A+” grade—up from twelve in the previous edition of this report—while six states earned an “F”—up from five over the same time period. Overall, the research finds 25 states fall below a “C.”
Labor Day: Americans Flee Forced-Unionism States and Move to Right-to-Work States
September 6, 2026 // Among the top ten growth states in the U-Haul index, nine have a Right-to-Work law that protects workers from being forced to pay dues to union bosses as a condition of employment. -Among the bottom ten states in the U-Haul index, NONE has a Right-to-Work law. All are forced unionism states. -Of the 25 top ranked cities in the U-Haul Growth Index, 24 are located in Right-to-Work states.
Illinois quick hits: New law expands treasurer’s investment options to include AFL-CIO
September 1, 2026 // Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation that enables the Illinois state treasurer to invest in pooled investment trusts like the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Fund, which provides capital to developers and aligns with the governor’s Building Up Illinois Developments plan.