Last week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs terminated union contracts for most bargaining-unit employees, stripping labor protections for about 400,000 workers. Friday’s rally was part of a national day of action called “Stand for Veterans, Stand for Unions.”

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.

Lawmakers and labor unions have both expressed concern that benefits for Tier 2 employees are inadequate and that some workers in that category are in line to receive benefits out of compliance with federal law.

Supporters from a diverse coalition of local grassroots organizations and labor unions marched the streets to protest the Trump administration’s policies. May 1 is known as May Day or International Workers’ Day.

Departed staffers include people who booked complex international trips to remote Indian pharmaceutical plants, lab scientists who tested food samples for contamination, and communication specialists who alerted the public to urgent safety recalls.

Elon Musk, one of President Donald Trump’s most powerful advisers, has orchestrated an unprecedented financial incentive for people to leave their government jobs, promising several months of pay in return for their resignation.

State lawmakers debating the future of Chicago-area transit have a new proposal to mull over, after a labor-backed coalition announced it would file a bill calling for reforming public transportation but stopping short of merging CTA, Metra, Pace and RTA.

The bill prohibits an employer from firing someone for missing quotas because of these bathroom and meal breaks and ensures that if the employee believes they're wrongly disciplined, they have a right to sue.

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.

Illinois public workers who began their positions before 2011 are in Tier 1, which offers better benefits. Those hired after Jan. 1, 2011, are in Tier 2. They have to work longer and upon retirement receive a smaller payout.

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.

The former president and now president-elect often skipped over details but through more than a year of policy pronouncements and written statements outlined a wide-ranging agenda. It would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers.

Letter carriers and other unionized postal employees rallied in Chicago on Tuesday as part of a national call to action in 90 cities.

Judge Andrea R. Wood wrote that the court found a probable risk of irreparable harm from falling concrete attributed to the deteriorated masonry walls, ceilings, steel beams and window lintels at Stateville Correctional Center.

Advocates are raising concerns about the location of these facilities and the impact they will have on both those behind the prison’s walls and its employees.