Workers

The Chicago Teachers Union Wants to End Student Homelessness at the Bargaining Table

By |

This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and The Nation. At the high school where Kevin Moore has taught social studies for seven years, there is no way to separate Chicago’s housing crisis from teachers’ working conditions—or students’ learning conditions. Of the roughly 1,500 students at George Washington High School, on the far southeast side of the city, about 60 students are housing insecure, he said. But that number is expected to rise this year, with an increasing number of migrant newcomers temporarily staying with family or friends, deprived permanent residence, a status referred to as “doubling up.”

“If you’re a child and you don’t know what your living situation is going to be by the end of the week, much less by the end of the day, school is not going to be your top priority,” Moore, 45, said of the high school, which is 88 percent Latino. “We want to give our students the most joyful day possible,” he said, adding that it’s “difficult to do our jobs when a child is struggling, when their attention is elsewhere.”

Now, as chair of the Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) housing committee, Moore is trying to change that.

Workers

Across Industries, Minnesota Workers Are Harnessing Their Collective Power

By |

This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. MINNEAPOLIS — Collective power is rising in Minnesota. Thousands of union members and a broad coalition of community groups banded together to demand better contracts, quality schools, housing and a livable planet. Unions in Minnesota have been aligning with community groups for more than a decade, participating in actions to build solidarity and worker power. 

On Tuesday, March 5, around 1,000 nursing home workers filled the Minnesota Capitol grounds to picket for better wages and working conditions in what was the industry’s largest strike in the history of the state. 

“I’ve been in the field 25 years and don’t have a retirement plan because they don’t pay me enough,” says Nessa Higgins, a member of both SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa and UFCW Local 663. In addition to her nursing assistant duties, Higgins also works as a medication aide and culinary worker.

A black woman wearing a blue long sleeve shirt stands at a podium raising her hand and pointing upwards, a brown woman holding a piece of paper and wearing a black scarf with rainbow details stands beside the podium in front of a background of multicolored banners
Workers

La historia laboral más importante en este momento está en Minnesota. Podría ser el modelo que todos necesitamos.

By |

Brenda Johnson de la Federación de Maestros de Minneapolis Local 59 y Eva López de SEIU Local 26 en una reunión en octubre de 2023 donde muchos de los grupos comunitarios y sindicatos alineados alrededor de la fecha límite de hoy del 2 de marzo elaboraron estrategias sobre la mejor manera de aprovechar su poder colectivo. (PHOTO CREDIT: CORTESIA DE GEOFF DITTBERNER, SEIU MINNESOTA)