Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

The proposal requires human service organizations that contract with the city and have more than 20 employees to agree not to fight efforts by their employees to unionize as long as workers agree not to disrupt the company’s operations while they organize.

(WTTW News)

The proposal would require human service organizations that contract with the city and have more than 20 employees to agree not to fight efforts by their employees to unionize as long as workers agree not disrupt the company’s operations while they organize.

Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

The proposal would require human service organizations that contract with the city to agree not to disrupt efforts by their employees to unionize as long as workers agree not disrupt the company’s operations while they organize.

The United Center is pictured on March 6, 2023. (WTTW News)
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United Center concession workers are in the middle of contract negotiations with the hospitality company that operates the service. On Sunday, dozens of workers walked out on a one-day strike during the Chicago Bulls game. 

(WTTW News)

The Greektown workers’ announcement comes on the heels of Starbucks workers at Old Orchard Mall in Skokie and the location near Main Street and Chicago Avenue in Evanston voting last month in favor of joining Starbucks Workers United, an SEIU affiliate.

UIC United Faculty members picket during their ongoing strike on Jan. 17, 2023. (WTTW News)

The UIC United Faculty on Tuesday announced its members had voted in favor of the new deal, which applies to all 1,500 members of the tenure and non-tenure bargaining units.

Russia Brown, a former CTA employee, is now suing the transit agency and his union alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. (WTTW News)

In 2019, WTTW News covered his successful push for the CTA to add gender affirming care to its health insurance policy. The employee behind that push has since been fired and is now suing the agency and his union. 

UIC United Faculty members picket during their ongoing strike on Jan. 17, 2023. (WTTW News)

Classes and labs will resume Monday as employees represented by the UIC United Faculty return to work after a four-year deal was struck during a nine-hour bargaining session Sunday.

UIC United Faculty members picket during their ongoing strike on Jan. 17, 2023. (WTTW News)

University officials said the sides had agreed to resume bargaining Friday and could continue talks into the weekend to secure a new contract agreement.

Workers at Howard Brown Health strike on Jan. 4, 2023. (WTTW News)

Howard Brown Health will next year mark 50 years of serving the health needs of the LBGTQ and HIV-positive communities. Going forward, it will do so minus about 16% of its workforce. 

 A Starbucks worker in Edgewater participates in a one-day strike on Aug. 30, 2022. (WTTW News)

Workers at high-profile companies like Amazon and Starbucks have unionized, as have employees at smaller chains and locally-owned firms. Chicago workers have also been part of the wave. Here’s a look at some of the big developments over the past year.

(WTTW News)

Workers at six Starbucks locations in Chicago and the suburbs are joining a nationwide wave of three-day unfair labor practice strikes aimed at the mega-coffee retailer, organizers say.

President Joe Biden speaks before signing H.J.Res.100, a bill that aims to avert a freight rail strike, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, in Washington. Themeasure passed Thursday by the Senateand Wednesday by the House binds rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday to avert a freight rail strike that he said could have plunged the U.S. into a catastrophic recession.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, center, speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh, File)

The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning Dec. 9.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, listens as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Nov. 29, 2022, about their meeting with President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be signed by President Joe Biden, who urged the Senate to act swiftly.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Nov. 29, 2022. (WTTW News)

In an interview, Sen. Tammy Duckworth spoke on a number of legislative issues that U.S. lawmakers are taking up during the lame-duck session before a new Congress is sworn in early next year.