Category: Organizing

CGH Medical Center in Sterling has been found in violation of state labor law—again. The public hospital illegally retaliated against employees who engaged in lawful activities and wrongfully fired a union supporter.

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.

CGH Medical Center violated state labor law by instructing workers how to revoke their union membership, according to a recommended decision issued late March by an administrative law judge of the Illinois Labor Relations Board.

Because of AFSCME’s efforts, direct support professionals (DSPs) and other frontline employees at state-funded disability agencies have seen their wages go up an average of more than $5 per hour over the past five budget cycles.

Employees of Chicago’s iconic Field Museum announced in a public letter today that they are coming together to form their union, Field Museum Workers United. Like workers at the Art Institute of Chicago, are also joining AFSCME Council 31.

More than 300 building, grounds and dining services employees of Illinois State University—members of AFSCME local 1110—overwhelmingly voted to approve the terms of an agreement reached last week on the brink of a campus-wide strike.

AFSCME members at community disability agencies are standing up for a desperately needed wage increase in this year’s state budget—with language requiring employers to pass the raise directly to frontline workers.

AFSCME Local 1216 members at Loretto Hospital uncovered a system payroll error—more than 100 nurses had been underpaid to the tune of $148,000. Back pay returned to individual employees ranged from a few dollars to more than $10,000.

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.