With Tuesday’s successful vote in Chicago and another in St. Louis, organizers say there are now 150 union Starbucks locations around the U.S.
Unions


The Hyde Park vote brings the total number of unionized Starbucks locations in the Chicago area to four. Bucktown Starbucks employees are currently voting by mail on unionizing, with results expected next Tuesday.

On the heels of Chicago’s first two Starbucks locations voting to join a union last Wednesday, workers at one of the company’s Edgewater coffee shops announced plans to file for representation Tuesday morning.

In December, a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York became the first of the company’s thousands of U.S. locations to vote for unionization. Just weeks later, workers at Chicago’s Randolph and Wabash location moved to join the effort.

Warehouse workers cast 2,654 votes in favor of a union, giving the fledgling Amazon Labor Union enough support to pull off a victory. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing the process, 2,131 workers rejected the union bid.

Employees at the School of the Art Institute voted to unionize Wednesday, one day after workers at the Art Institute also voted to form a union. It’s the first major museum union in Chicago and will represent more than 200 Art Institute employees including installers, curators, custodians, librarians and retail workers.

The mayor said Wednesday she would not delay her order to require all city workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15 — despite pushback from the unions representing Chicago’s 11,000 police officers.

A final vote is set for Sept. 14 on an eight-year deal that offers more than 11,000 Chicago police officers annual average raises of approximately 2.5% — while imposing new rules on officers suspected of misconduct.

With possibly just a few weeks left before Exelon shutters a nuclear reactor in Byron, feuding and politically powerful interests have failed to reach a deal that would keep the plant open and otherwise move Illinois toward its renewable energy goals.
Map outrage, amending the constitution, and an elected school board

With just days left before the General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment on May 31, a lot of legislation is moving in Springfield. But only one constitutional amendment has gained traction.

Despite the strongest public support and the most sympathetic president in years, the American labor movement just suffered a stinging defeat -- again.

Everything is set in motion for a Chicago teachers strike, but teachers aren’t the only ones considering a walkout. The city of Chicago could be facing multiple government employee strikes – all at once.

Some 2,200 nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center walked off the job Friday, citing staffing shortages and forced overtime. “The reason we are striking is for our patient safety and our staff safety,” said one nurse from the picket line.

The Chicago Federation of Musicians says the five-year deal includes a 13.2% increase in salary and protects retirement benefits. The union says musicians unanimously supported it Saturday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement that Chicago Symphony Orchestra management and striking musicians “have reached an agreement in principle to bring the music back to the symphony center.”

Both striking musicians and management of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have welcomed an offer by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to help end a nearly two-month work stoppage over pensions and wages.