By CARL GREEN
Illinois Correspondent
Collinsville, IL – Illinois Democrats will have a full slate of candidates to choose from to run against Governor Bruce Rauner in his re-election bid next year.
But Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) will not to be one of them.
Manar, a leader on education funding, voting access and Labor issues, had considered running but decided against it.
“As...
By SHERI GASSAWAY
Correspondent
Jefferson City – A group of Missouri construction industry leaders representing 14 trade associations and 100,000 workers recently voiced unanimous opposition to a proposed bill that would repeal the state’s prevailing wages law.
The coalition held a news conference on the subject at the Missouri Capitol immediately following an April 5 Senate committee hearing on House Bill 104,...
Second annual May Day Event
By CARL GREEN
Illinois Correspondent
Mt. Olive, IL – For the second year, the Mother Jones Museum will hold a May Day Event to celebrate the 180th birthday of the famous union organizer.
Mary Harris “Mother Jones” chose May Day to be her birthday to represent her own rebirth in the Labor Movement. As “The Most Dangerous Woman in...
Illinois State Representative Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) led the charge for a $15 minimum wage in Illinois on April 5. HB 198 passed 17-6 in the House Labor Committee.
Under the provisions of the bill, the state minimum wage would increase in increments from its current rate of $8.25 per hour:
Beginning of 2018 – increase to $9 per hour.
2019...
Protest part of national day of action in over 30 cities
St. Louis – “Our healthcare system is broken,“ Dr. Pam Gronemeyer told protesters assembled outside the Washington University School of Medicine during the Campaign for Guaranteed Healthcare national day of action Saturday, April 8.
“Even with advances made under the Affordable Care Act, too many people cannot afford healthcare,” Gronemeyer said....
Jefferson City, MO – With right-wing Missouri Governor Eric Greitens choosing a new director for the Missouri Department of Labor, you might not expect it to be someone coming from the Labor Movement.
You might be right, too. Greitens recently announced that Anna Hui, who has been serving as acting director of the Illinois Department of Labor, will become the new...
Dan Simmons named Labor Leader of the Year; Hoffman Friend of Labor
By CARL GREEN
Illinois Correspondent
East Alton, IL – The indefinite closing of the U.S. Steel plant in Granite City was an underlying theme at the awards banquet of the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor:
The Labor Leader of the Year award went to Dan Simmons, president of United Steel Workers...
Will Attig has been appointed as executive director of the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council. Attig is a member of United Association Local 160 in Murphysboro and worked as a zone coordinator in the AFL-CIO Labor 2016 political program.
As a member of UA Local160, Attig worked with Illinois legislators to create a Veterans Suicide Task Force. The legislation creating the...
Signature gathering training has begun
St. Charles, MO – The fight to stop so-called “right-to-work” in Missouri kicked off recently with a “Train the Trainer” program at Tri-County Labor Club and continued on municipal election day April 4 at polling sites in St. Charles County, where newly trained union members and volunteers began collecting signatures on the Citizens’ Referendum petition...
By standing together, workers at Holten Meat are building a workplace that lets them build careers and support their families.
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 who work at Holten Meat in Sauget, Ill. voted this morning to ratify an industry-leading new contract and return to work immediately. The new three-year contract resolves many of the issues...