Category: Corrections
An educator and a correctional officer were brutally beaten at Sheridan CC. At Joliet Treatment Center, a correctional officer was assaulted—and short-staffing was a contributing factor.
In response to forceful protests, the Illinois Department of Corrections has halted a plan to sharply reduce capacity at Vandalia Correctional Center—a plan that many feared was a precursor to closing the prison entirely.
Primary Election Day was June 28 in Illinois. We voted together to elect pro-worker candidates. And Winnebago County decisively voted YES to save River Bluff Nursing Home.
Some Illinois AFSCME members have received communications from the so-called “Freedom Foundation,” or “Opt Out Today," a group that seeks to stop workers from collectively fighting to protect pensions, raise wages, or improve protections and benefits.
“I could see the angst in her eyes,” AFSCME Local 2953 executive board member and chief steward Serbekian Minas said. “How can I not help this woman as much as I can and go the extra mile?"
In February we celebrate Black History Month, and AFSCME’s long legacy of standing up for racial justice—from the strike of Memphis sanitation workers 54 years ago this month, to affirming that Black Lives Matter today.
In Illinois, state workers have a strong union voice and robust collective bargaining rights. In Missouri, their bargaining rights are restricted and unions weakened. There's a stark union difference between the two sides of the Mississippi River.
"We are heartbroken at the loss of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigator and AFSCME member Deidre Silas of Springfield, murdered Tuesday while responding to a report of children in danger."
On December 29 Arbitrator Edwin Benn ruled against AFSCME members in the interest arbitration regarding the State’s plan to require COVID vaccinations for employees in IDOC and IDJJ.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear four cases aimed at expanding the scope of its 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.