Posts tagged Illinois
Your Uber Driver May Soon Be Unionized. At What Cost?
June 15, 2026 // In fact, this result has already been seen in locales that have pushed aggressive minimum wage laws for gig workers—another one-size-fits-all progressive labor policy that left-leaning cities have begun importing to gig work in recent years. For instance, the waitlist to become an UberEats driver in New York City grew to 27,000 after the Big Apple passed a minimum wage ordinance for app-based food delivery in 2023; the minimum wage rules forced Uber to limit drivers in an effort to control spiking labor costs. Unfortunately, draconian sector-wide labor rules will also raise labor costs for these platforms, with the costs inevitably being passed along to riders in the form of more expensive Uber rides. (Such a passed-along price increase has also already been seen with the minimum wage mandates for food delivery.) The gig worker unionization drive that is spreading acr
Illinois lawmakers pass bill allowing rideshare drivers to unionize
June 2, 2026 // Critics have raised concerns about potential cost increases and how the changes could impact service availability. The legislation could affect rideshare drivers throughout Northern Illinois, including in Rockford and surrounding communities, where gig work remains a supplemental income source for many residents.
ILLINOIS: Local school district accused of corruption amid contract negotiations
May 26, 2026 // A local teachers union is accusing its school district of corruption amid ongoing contract negotiations. And now, the Cahokia Federation of Teachers says it has the documentation to back up those allegations.
Clinicians push to unionize amid staffing, burnout concerns
May 25, 2026 // Among the most recent efforts in May are the more than 73% of the 870 nurses at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., who signed cards supporting unionization. The group filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on May 1 and is awaiting an election date. Nurses involved in the effort said they want a stronger voice in decisions affecting staffing, retention and working conditions.
The Union Organizing Boom Has a Number They Don’t Want You to See
May 14, 2026 // The Faster Labor Contracts Act, championed by union-aligned legislators on Capitol Hill, would impose a 90-day bargaining deadline. If no deal is reached, a government-appointed arbitrator writes the contract — and workers do not get to vote on the result. Critics have pointed out that this structure actually incentivizes union negotiators to stall and run out the clock, betting an arbitrator delivers better terms than good-faith bargaining would. Workers get a contract faster. They just lose the right to approve it. The dues keep coming either way.
More than 300 Illinois State University workers end monthlong strike after ratifying new contract
May 8, 2026 // As part of the contract, AFSCME also has agreed to drop a lawsuit accusing the university of illegally hiring non-union workers to do their jobs during the strike, and to withdraw other claims of unfair labor practices the union had filed against the university.
University of Chicago Press Staffers Move to Unionize
May 6, 2026 // The UCP Workers Guild would be the first union in the nonprofit publisher's 130-year history. If not recognized voluntarily, workers will seek a mail election monitored by the National Labor Relations Board. A supermajority of the 139 eligible staffers across the nonprofit publisher's divisions has already signed union cards, according to the Guild.
Building trades unions emerge as a key ally of tech giants in push for AI data centers
May 4, 2026 // Unions have aggressively answered complaints about data centers in ways that executives at tech giants and the development firms rarely do, unafraid to bluntly confront concerns about energy and water shortages, rising electric and water bills, or noise and quality-of-life objections. “When people say, you know, ‘data centers are the root of all evil,’ we’re just saying, ‘look, they do create a hell of a lot of construction jobs, which we live and work in your communities,'” said Rob Bair, president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council.
600 groups with $2B in revenue mobilize 3,000 May Day protests in a ‘red-blue’ alliance, probe finds
May 1, 2026 // The California Democratic Party is using the pro-Democratic tech platform, Mobilize.us, to promote "Workers over Billionaires May Day rally" protests, like at the corner of Monroe Street and Highway 11 in Indio, Calif. In its publicity material, the California Democratic Party notes it's "the largest state party in the nation with more than 10 million members." The Ohio Democratic Party Progressive Caucus, North Carolina’s Young Democrats of Moore County, Young Democrats of Wisconsin and the Yuba County Democratic Central Committee are on the official list of organizers for a coalition, "May Day Strong," promoted online.
Congressional progressives introduce $25 federal minimum wage plan
April 28, 2026 // Noah Finley, National Federation of Independent Business Illinois state director, has argued both the previous increase and new proposal would be harmful to businesses across the state. “Our members here in Illinois, they've been really struggling with the $15 an hour minimum wage in the state. That has been a huge burden for them,” Finley said. “They've had to cut back on employees. They've had to raise their prices. So, this is bad for workers, it's bad for consumers and it's bad for small businesses.”