Labor in Illinois

Weekly Labor Report (backlog)
April 14, 2008

Charter School Teachers Move to Form Union

More than 30 percent of the roughly 45 employees at the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in a subdivision of Pingree Grove, Illinois have signed union cards with the Illinois Education Association. Other workers at the school, including bus drivers and food service workers, have also begun to organize for a collective voice against the non-profit organization Northern Cane Educational Corporation. The educators have filed their petition for union representation with the Illinois Educational Labor Board and await the first election. –Daily Herald (25 March 2008)

One of the anti-union scare tactics that teachers report is an administrative form which requires teachers and staff to report any engagement with union discussions. The form requires teachers to pledge that he or she has not engaged in discussions “against the interest of my employer without regret or remorse and intend to assert my personal interest over those of my employer,” or that they did not participate in talks “and regret and repudiate any actions I have taken. I will, of my own free will, publicly apologize to the clients we serve and my peers, (and) withdraw any expression of interest given to a UniServ representative.” – Suburban Chicago News (4 Mar 2008)

Firefighters Call on Illinois Labor Relations Board

Firefighters in New Lenox, Illinois have argued that their district improperly reassigned 55 part-time firefighters last April while they were in the process of unionizing. The Service Employees International Union Local 73 which represents the firefighters has argued that the district “privatized” the department’s entire firefighting ranks in direct response to union organizing. – Suburban Chicago News (1 April 2008)

United Technologies Layoffs in Rockford

Hamilton Sunstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies, announced layoffs of 65 manufacturing workers at their Rockford, Illinois plant. Over the past few years, the division of about 2200 people has shifted hundreds of production jobs to Singapore. The company that now advertises itself as experts in aerospace engineering has made plans to hire about 150 more engineers to its Windsor Locks, Connecticut plant this year.—Boston News (2 April 2008)

Ford Layoffs in Chicago

Ford said that cutting shifts in Chicago, a Louisville sport-utility plant and a Cleveland engine plant is part of an onging plan to prevent expensive equipment stockpiles. “We’re trying to plan conservatively,” Ford sales analyst George Pipas said, arguing that a reduction in demand is an ideal way to reduce the falls in prices. “We will operate on one shift as long as we have to,” he continued. General Motors has recently offered retirement offers to 73,000 UAW members, and Chrysler LLC is offering similar packages at its UAW-supported plants. – Chicago Tribune (4 Mar 2008)

Illinois-based Companies Supportive of Free-Trade with Columbia

Several Illinois-based businesses, including Caterpillar, have joined with Walmart, Citigroup and other major corporations in supporting the controversial treaty with Columbia that would support free-trade. Director of the National Association of Manufacturers Douglas Goudie has argued that opportunity will benefit small businesses too, and cites Quality Float Works of Illinois as an example. “We’re not General Motors, we’re just the little guy,” said Sandy Westlund-Dennihan, Quality Float’s owner. Meanwhile, both Democratic presidential hopefuls, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and AFL-CIO president John Sweeny have argued that they promote the growth of good jobs in the United States. Treaties like this encourage corporations to exploit cheap labor overseas for the sake of corporate profiteering, but to the loss of potential sources of income for Americans.—Wall Street Journal (10 April 2008)

University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate Students March on Provost’s Office

Graduate students at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where student employees teach one third of all credit hours, have protested the administration for higher stipends and lowered fees. Students have argued that the administration uses the imposition of higher fees to offset what seems like modest gains in pay. These graduate students join those at the University of Chicago who have been rallying against the administration since February. One of the challenges they find is that while stipends for newer graduate students have been raised, those of already enrolled graduate students have not significantly increased. – Chicago Flame (14 April 2008)

First Transit Workers Join Teamsters

First Transit workers in McHenry, Illinois have voted 29-4 to join the Teamsters and become Local 731. This addition to the Teamsters, orchestrated through the joint efforts of Teamsters Joint Council 25, Teamsters Local 731 and the Teamsters. It is part of an ongoing effort to organize private school bus and transit workers. Ron Langton, a First Transit driver, reflected on the merger, “If you look in the paper, other bus driver positions are starting at $14 a hour. Here it’s a little over $10. All we want is fair play for the responsibility. I voted for the Teamsters to better our lives.”—Fox Business (8 April 2008)

Union Music Teachers File Grievance against District

The Illinois Education Association has filed a claim with Huntley Unit District 158, arguing that the district has overburdened elementary music teachers with seventeen classes. According to music teachers’ contracts, says the union, teachers are allowed 300 minutes of planning and grading time per week. Issuing a seventeenth class, they claim, cuts into planning time without any extra compensation. The union argues that the teachers should either be compensated extra for the class or not expected to teach it. Superintendent John Burkey has rejected the teachers’ request, arguing that to grant music teachers extra pay for this class would be unfair to the teachers who teach 1625 minutes per week without receiving extra pay. The Illinois Educational Labor Board is currently investigating the charge.—Daily Herald (8 April 2008)

Service Employees' International Union Struggles over Structure

Andy Stern, SEIU president and one of the country’s most dynamic and controversial labor leaders, has argued that locals should merge locally and even across states to gain the strength to take on major corporations. The leaders of many locals are concerned that this merge would only further centralize union bureaucracy. Paula Jones, member of Local 2000 in Florissant, Missouri, for example, has argued that “Workers have lost their voice” and that further merging of union locals would only exacerbate this problem. Some locals, however, already span cities and even state-lines. SEIU’s Local 1 is based in Chicago but spans janitors and building service workers in St. Louis, Kansas and Milwaukee. Stern was one of the primary leaders of the AFL-CIO’s Change to Win Federation, a coalition of major unions that have argued the union movement needs to focus more on organizing. Some union leaders who object to Stern sometimes argue that heightened organizing within unions can be accomplished without such bureaucratic merging of unions. For example, Sal Roselli of the United Healthcare Worker’s West has argued that his unit has grown to 150000 workers “without compromising the ability of workers to be in control of their union.” Stern’s allies contend that Roselli’s criticisms hurt the collective voice of the SEIU at a moment when they are already united by national political goals such as the nomination of Barack Obama for president. – St. Louis Today (20 Mar 2008)

Unionized University of Illinois Faculty in Minority

As faculty in Wisconsin have won the attention of legislators in their fight for a collective voice, many in Champaign-Urbana have reflected on the potential of faculty unionization at the University of Illinois. Field service director of the Illinois Federation of Teachers Jon Nadler has argued that the interest among faculty for a unions has generally been low. Labor education specialist Joe Berry has reflected that “Like any other employer, universities prefer to not have to deal with a union and deal with an employee individually.” John Murphy, executive vice president of the University Professionals of Illinois, has stated that “The faculty at the University of Illinois has not suffered enough to be clamoring for representation as a collective union.”— Daily Illini (7 March 2008)

Protest against Prison Shutdown in Will County

Residents of the rural Southern Illinois town of Vandalia have protested against the shut-down of their local prison facility over the last four years. Residents have joined with others who are upset with the state’s plan to close the maximum security wing at the Stateville Correctional Center north of Joliet, Illinois. Vandalia officials have protested that the shuddering of the local prison will cut as many as 400 paying jobs and relocate 1600 inmates to other prisons. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 31 has argued on behalf of the inmates that such a transition for the alleged sake of efficiency in Illinois will uproot inmates from steady access to visitation from their families. Many would be moved to the Thomson Correctional Center. Will County Center for Economic Development also opposes the shut-down of the prison facility. They contend that the change would strain local businesses who have served employees off the job. – Chicago Tribune (3 March 2008)