Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital rallied outside the hospital Thursday in a planned one-day strike after they allege nurses were fired by management in retaliation for trying to form a union. The hospital denied retaliating against employees.

The strike started at Boeing facilities in St. Louis; St. Charles, Missouri; and Mascoutah, Illinois, after about 3,200 local members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted Sunday to reject a modified four-year labor agreement, the union said.

Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks’ baristas, said at least 10 locations were closed down as of midday Friday.

The union called it the largest strike against the company in U.S. history, although Amazon said it did not expect the labor action to impact its operations.

The Illinois Nurses Association represents 1,700 nurses at UI Hospital who have been in contract negotiations since June. Nurses at the hospital system initially went on strike for one week when their contract ended in August. For the current strike, the nurses’ union did not give hospital leadership a strike end date.

Drivers began a work stoppage on Aug. 16 over low wages and unfair labor practices by employer SCR Medical Transportation. Roughly half of the 600 drivers on strike serve CPS students, including students with special needs.

At public universities across the state, staff and faculty unions have faced a contentious year of negotiations and, in some cases, strikes. Pay has been a major issue on several campuses and the unions are now looking to Springfield for potential reforms to the state’s higher education funding.

The Columbia College Faculty Union (CFAC), which represents nearly 600 part-time faculty members, announced Thursday its members had officially approved the contract, which put an end to a record-long 49-day strike.

College administrators and the Columbia College Faculty Union (CFAC) — which represents nearly 600 adjunct faculty members — jointly announced the tentative deal that would put an end to the record-long strike.

Following the Thanksgiving break, faculty members represented by the Columbia College Faculty Union (CFAC) have entered the fifth week of the ongoing strike.

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis agreements, which run through April 2028, will end contentious talks that began last summer and led to six-week-long strikes at all three automakers.

It’s the second time Howard Brown Health Workers United has taken to the picket line this year. The first strike in January was largely over 61 unionized workers being laid off as management pointed to drastic budget shortfalls.

Nearly 600 part-time faculty members at Columbia College walked off the job Monday. The faculty union and administration have been contract bargaining since May.

Ford said it laid off 330 workers at its Chicago Stamping Plant and Lima Engine Plant following the union’s decision Friday to strike its Chicago Assembly plant, which made the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs.

The United Auto Workers union says its two-week strike against Detroit automakers will spread to 7,000 more workers at a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors assembly factory near Lansing, Michigan.