Labor in Illinois

Week of Jan 29

UFCW Presses for Immigrant Rights

In response to recent surprise inspections at meatpacking plants from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 881 has argued that due process and equal protection rights must be enforced for undocumented workers. Illinois State Senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) has worked to such purges from taking place in Illinois. He supports legislation that would create a legal pathway for workers to attain citizenship, and prevent potential identity theft of those workers already legally working in the United States.—Labor News (Indianapolis) Jan 2007 (Vol 41, No. 10)

Chicago Parking Attendants Secure New Contract

Chicago Teamsters Local 727 won a new contract that establishes Chicago parking attendants the highest-paid of any attendants in the country. Highlights of the new contract include substantial wage increases, health insurance, pension increases, education and legal assistance programs for workers and their families, five week vacations, and a reduction in part-time employees. ---International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Jan/Feb 2007): 22-23.

Sara Lee Announces Job Cuts

Sara Lee officials announced that for the long-term profitability of the corporation, they will continue cutting investments that are not breads and breakfast foods. Though officials expressed disappointment in its potential effects on the community, they recently announced the shut down of a plant in West Point, Mississippi. Sara Lee only recently acquired the plant from Consolidated Foods, which bought out the original Bryan Foods. ---30 Jan 2007 (Chicago Tribune Online)

Lang Proposes Expansion of Casinos

In House Bill 480, Illinois State Representative Lou Lang (Skokie Democrat) proposed expanding licenses to casinos and other gambling facilities in Illinois. Doug Dobmeyer of the Task Force to Oppose Gambling fiercely opposes the measure. – State Journal Register (Springfield) 30 Jan 2007

SEIU Leader Favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was on the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, campus this week to meet with members of his union and deliver a public lecture on the need for immigration reform. Medina criticized plans to build a security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as expensive and ineffective. He and his union favor granting legal status to most undocumented immigrants in the country, after they pay back taxes or other fines that may be owed. SEIU also favors a guest worker program to handle future immigrants, as long as future immigrants have the same labor rights as other workers in the country. -- Daily Illini (February 1, 2007), p. 1, 5.