The Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016 set ambitious clean-energy goals lauded by clean energy advocates, developers, labor unions and community groups alike. As coal and clean energy sources have been pitted against each other in the national debate, the state’s aggressive pivot to renewable energy will leave the state’s fruitful coal industry, for the most part, unaffected.
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Sandra Roman is a lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit charging that the abrupt closures of seven Chicago-area Treasure Island stores violate state and federal laws called the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act), which require that companies with over 75 full-time employees provide at least 60 days notice to workers before mass closures and layoffs. When the stores closed, workers lost their accrued paid time off and health care benefits, and never got the severance pay that the law would require.
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As the holidays approach, the Cambria Hotel Chicago Magnificent Mile is the only Chicago hotel still on strike. UNITE HERE Local 1, the union representing the workers, and the hotel have yet to ratify a new contract after the last one expired on Aug. 31.
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By Camille Erickson On Halloween night, Jackie Gonzalez, 25, received an unexpected text message from her co-workers. Taco Joint, a
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Despite predictions that President Trump’s controversial performance would be the primary incentive driving voters to cast their ballots this midterm, residents of Austin kept it local. At polls across the neighborhood, voters cited the need for more mental health services and workers rights as their motivation to show up.
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In the month leading up to the election, Shantonia Jackson along with other members of the national grassroots movement Fight for 15 and the labor union SEIU have knocked on thousands of fellow workers’ doors in a push to convince new or reluctant voters to head to the polls.
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The 700 or so Treasure Island workers who were laid off September 29 received no advance notice that their employment would be terminated. They also lost their health insurance and paid vacation time they had not taken. Now, with the support of Arise Chicago, they are demanding compensation equal to 60 days of work and extended healthcare.
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