Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter confirmed the union and school district have agreed to hold open bargaining sessions that will allow community stakeholders to attend negotiations for the first time.

Seven months after Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch advanced a measure that would allow legislative staff to unionize, members of his own staff on Tuesday blasted the speaker for allowing the bill to languish.

SEIU Local 73 says it represents more than 11,000 CPS support staff, including special education classroom assistants, custodians, crossing guards, bus aides, security officers and parent workers. CPS and the union had been negotiating on a contract for a year.

With two weeks left before the General Assembly’s spring session is set to adjourn, negotiations continue on a labor union-backed initiative that would allow Illinoisans to skip religious and political work meetings without reprimand.

With a month and a half left in the General Assembly’s spring session, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is readying its proposal to address Illinois’ chronically underfunded pension system.

It comes after about 1.5 years of negotiations, two strikes, a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board that found merit in charges of unfair labor practices, and the layoffs of 61 unionized workers — some of whom were subsequently brought back on due to an NLRB recommendation.

Natural gas is fueling a fight between consumer advocates, a powerful utility company and the state. Amid competing advertising campaigns, accusations of mismanagement and state decarbonization efforts, the Illinois Commerce Commission is starting a process that will shape how the state regulates the increasingly controversial industry.

More than 2,200 Chicago Park District workers, represented by the union SEIU Local 73, have been in contract negotiations for nine months, the union said.

The move comes seven months after the NLRB found merit or partial merit in the Howard Brown Health Works United’s allegations. This complaint reiterates those allegations, including declaring an impasse and refusing to bargain over layoffs.

National Nurses United represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine. A strike authorization vote is part of standard procedure, where represented nurses give the union the authority to call a strike. 

Last week, eight local Teamsters unions representing about 3,800 transportation-related employees authorized strikes amid the ongoing negotiations. A strike can still be avoided despite the authorization votes.

The unions are calling Tuesday’s protests a national day of action. It is not a strike — federal law makes it difficult for airline unions to conduct legal strikes.

The eight local unions that authorized strikes are spread throughout Illinois and represent around 3,800 employees, including drivers, highway maintainers and bridge tenders. Negotiations between the state and the unions have lasted more than seven months. 

It is the latest recent strike in the U.S. news industry. The striking workers are employees of Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that has been buying up newspapers across the country and facing criticism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs.

Journalists at the Chicago Tribune are among more than 200 journalists, designers, and production workers at seven newsrooms across the country owned by Tribune Publishing who will be participating in the one-day walkout.

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.