Labor Council of West Central Illinois

10/16/2025

Reminder


‘NO KINGS’ RALLIES THIS SATURDAY

This Saturday (Oct. 18) Americans will gather at events across the country to make it clear to the Trump administration that power belongs to the people. In the United States, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos and corruption.

Curtis Hierro, National Political Field Director for the Communications Workers of America, said, “Our jobs and our freedom to bargain contracts are under attack. Billionaires who have bought and bribed their way to power in Washington are working to dismantle our collective bargaining agreements and gut laws that protect our safety at work and workers’ ability to form unions.

“The Trump administration has already shredded the union contracts of more than 1 million federal workers,” he continued. “They have left 17 million people without health-care coverage and driven up insurance costs for all of us. They are deploying federal troops to intimidate peaceful protestors.

“Their policies are designed to take power from the people and transfer trillions of dollars from programs that benefit working people, retirees and children into tax cuts for the super-rich and more avenues for corporations to exploit workers. This is not what we want. This is not what the majority of Americans want,” Hierro added. “We want better, cheaper health care. We want to improve Social Security and Medicare so they will be there when we are ready to retire. We want to fix our tax system so that the obscenely rich pay what they should, and corporations aren’t rewarded for sending jobs overseas. We want to be free to join unions and bargain for the wages and benefits that we deserve.”

Our unity is powerful. When our bosses try to act like kings, when they try to bully and berate us into accepting less so that they can have more, do we back down? No; we stand up.

This Saturday, millions of everyday Americans will stand together to show that we won’t be intimidated. Join other neighbors on Oct. 18.

For details on rallies in Bloomington, Galesburg, Geneseo, Kewanee, Macomb, Ottawa, Peoria, Pointiac, Princeton, the Quad Cities, Quincy, Springfield and many other sites, go to-
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/?utm_source=cwa&link_id=5&can_id=b64cebf2e5768604aa7f76f30f64696a&email_referrer=email_2932827&email_subject=reminder-no-kings-join-an-action-on-oct-18&

Find events, petitions, volunteer opportunities, fundraisers and more with No Kings.

08/26/2025

08/12/2025

SEIU SEEKS FIELD ORGANIZER WORKING FROM PEORIA

Local 73 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has posted a notice to hire a Field Organizer to be based in Peoria.

For details, go to-

Downstate Field Organizer - SEIU : Illinois — Union Jobs Clearinghouse

06/24/2025

“When the 4th of July approaches, many Americans think of moments of history: ragtag Minutemen in tricorn hats shooting from the timber as Redcoats march by in straight lines, or stirring comments from Thomas Paine or Patrick Henry, or Thomas Jefferson’s bold Declaration. But each Independence Day may be a time for organized labor to reacquaint everyday workers with different declarations – unionizing, striking and struggling against difficult odds,” I wrote in a column in the June issue of The Labor Paper, posted in my online archive
http://mayflyproductions.blogspot.com

“Before facts are erased in textbooks eliminating ‘disagreeable”’moments from the past, mandated by MAGA-dominated states, or government records scrubbed – as the federal administration also has tried to do – working people should remember the sacrifices made and courage displayed by labor.

“No Executive Order can sanitize our heritage if we know it and pass it on, and we continue to resist those who’d take our independence from us.”

(The column offers seven examples from labor’s past to consider over the next few days.)

Days after print publication, Bill Knight’s syndicated newspaper column, which moves twice a week, will appear here. The most recent will appear at the top. (Columns before Sept. 11, 2017, are archived at http://billknightcolumn.blogspot.com/).

06/08/2025

Hundreds of people turned out for the "D Day for Democracy" rally Saturday in Peoria, including a group from the Roofers union, shown here with Democrat Joe Albright for Congress , who's campaigning for Illinois' 16th District to unseat Trump supporter Darin LaHood.

06/05/2025

IBEW AND CBS REACH
HISTORIC TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

The Electrical Workers (IBEW) last week secured a landmark tentative agreement with CBS that includes historic wage increases for broadcast workers.

The IBEW’s CBS agreement covers all network news and sports, plus popular programming like “60 Minutes,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Price Is Right” and more. In addition to higher pay, the contract also contains important provisions governing Artificial Intelligence and other new emerging technologies that may impact the industry.

“This tentative agreement reflects a new era of partnership and progress that recognizes the important contributions of IBEW-represented technicians while embracing the challenges and opportunities of the future,” said IBEW International President Kenneth Cooper in a press release. “From news and sports to streaming and operations, IBEW members are the engine behind CBS’s continued success, just like they have been since 1939.

“We believe this agreement not only speaks to CBS’s commitment to national and local broadcasting, it also reinforces the value of skilled union labor and reflects a shared vision for adapting to the fast-evolving media landscape.”

For more, go to-

The IBEW is the largest union representing CBS workers

05/30/2025

VETERANS GROUP ATTACKS TRUMP CUTS THAT FEDERAL UNION GROUP BLASTS

A veterans group took aim at President Donald Trump's cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in an online message posted Memorial Day.

The Political Action Committee VoteVets criticized the Trump administration for the VA cutbacks, as well as the president's senior adviser and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) frontman Elon Musk.

"Gutting VA will result in delayed appointments and substandard care, leading directly to more veteran deaths,” said Iraq veteran Kayla Williams, VoteVets’ senior policy adviser. “In fact, as reports and internal documents now prove, Elon Musk's wrecking ball is causing systems to fail, putting veterans at risk.

"It's a slap in the face to all who have worn the uniform in defense of our nation."

The VA plans to reduce its workforce by more than 17%, about 82,000 staffers, and numerous contracts held by the agency have been cut. Earlier this month, Federal News Network reported that more than 14,000 VA workers in health-care positions applied to leave their jobs through separation incentives offered by the federal government.

Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said, "The VA has been severely understaffed for many years, resulting in longer wait times for veterans in need. The DOGE plunder of career VA employees, adding to the illegal mass firings of thousands of probationary employees, can only make matters worse. Veterans and their families will suffer unnecessarily, and the will of Congress will be ignored."

Beyond the VA, jobs held by veterans throughout the federal government and U.S. Postal Service also are being eliminated or are in jeopardy.

Whether further staffing cutbacks will take place at the VA hasn’t been confirmed.

For more, go to-

"Gutting VA will result in delayed appointments and substandard care, leading directly to more veteran deaths," a statement from VoteVets reads.

05/28/2025

LABOR URGES PUBLIC TO BOYCOTT
TAILGATE N' TALLBOYS

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is seeking community support for its ongoing dispute with Tailgate N’ Tallboys promoter USA Concerts & Events accusing the employer of breaking its contract and refusing to hire local workers at Bloomington, Ill., and Clinton, Iowa.

IATSE says USA Concerts is violating a 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement with Davenport-based IATSE Local 85. IATSE Local 193 in Twin Cities and Peoria also is affected.

This year’s Tailgate N’ Tallboys festival is June 5-7 in Clinton and June 12-15 in Bloomington.

“After almost 10 years of IATSE Local 193 members serving as the dedicated workforce for Tailgate N’ Tallboys, organizers want to abandon the workers and community that made it into the large and successful event it is today in favor of an out-of-state labor company,” IATSE Local 193 Business Agent Michael Irvin said. “It’s extremely disheartening.”

The established Collective Bargaining Agreement contains a clause that automatically renews the agreement unless it’s terminated by written notice, but no notice was given, IATSE said.

IATSE represents more than 170,000 technicians, artisans, and craftspeople in the entertainment industry, including live events, motion-picture and television production, broadcast, and trade shows in the United States and Canada.

For more, go to-

The International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is taking action against the organizers of Tailgate N’ Tallboys, alleging ‘USA Concerts and Events’ breached a labor agreement and refused to hire local stagehands in Clinton, IA as well as Bloomington, IL.

05/27/2025

CONSTRUCTION UNIONS GRAB HOLD
OF CLEAN ENERGY JOBS – FOR NOW

Nationwide, state and local governments have begun taking concrete steps toward a clean energy economy, and for now – even under Trump –green union jobs are increasing.

Meanwhile, unions have partnered with climate activists to win legislation for more such jobs. Six states have passed “climate jobs” bills to expand renewable energy and raise labor standards for that construction. Four more have union coalitions advocating for such legislation.

Will the green surge continue? And if it does, will workers reap the economic benefits – or get left behind?

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)opened the door for clean energy projects across the country. Many IRA tax credits were designed to encourage the use of high-wage union labor. But under the Trump administration, most of this IRA funding is either in limbo or has been canceled.

Still, more workers are getting experience on jobs that will be central to the potential clean-energy economy of the future.

How do workers feel about these jobs? And are they laying the groundwork for more workers to embrace a clean energy transition?

SOLAR
The solar panels we see on rooftops of public buildings and private homes are relatively easy to install, and unions like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have many members with experience in the industry.

WIND
Huge strides have been made over the last decade in developing offshore wind. In Rhode Island, building trades unions supported the development of Block Island Wind, the nation’s largest offshore wind project, and jumped at the chance to use further funding through the IRA.

The Trump administration has blocked all new permits for wind energy development, at least for now. But work on existing projects continues.

Erin Vaughan, a member of IBEW Local 223 in Massachusetts, is currently working to build wind turbines off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. This is part of the Vineyard Wind 1 project, one of 11 offshore wind farms attached together on federal lands.

DEEPER ORGANIZING
Of course the clean-energy transition needed isn’t limited to wind and solar. Union officers pushing climate jobs bills often also advocate for geothermal energy, battery storage, building retrofits, and nuclear power to add to a transition. The United Auto Workers’ recent successes organizing electric-vehicle plants are encouraging.

Especially in the current political climate, workers in the building trades need to more aggressively organize non-union clean energy workers. A new clean energy economy is an opportunity for the building trades to bring more of a union culture to these projects and combat longstanding problems like mandatory overtime and speed-up.

The shift to a green economy is also a great opening for unions to do internal education about the benefits to workers of clean energy development. Sometimes this member education can happen in the midst of real-time legislative fights unions are helping to lead.

The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in Illinois, passed in 2021 with unanimous labor support, contains ambitious climate targets while maintaining a strong commitment to putting unions in the driver’s seat.

At their best, campaigns like these aren’t just lobbying exercises for leadership, but include political education and member mobilization. They are an opportunity to engage members on the shop floor and educate about the potential benefits of a clean energy transition.

For more, go to-

State and local governments have begun taking concrete steps towards a clean energy economy, and for now, even under Trump, green union jobs are increasing. Meanwhile, unions have partnered with climate activists to win legislation for more such jobs. Six states have passed “climate jobs” bills ...

05/26/2025

LABOR MADE SACRIFICES FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY, 1937

On this day 88 years ago, May 26, 1937 –on the same day -- organized labor was violently attacked.

In Dearborn, Mich., autoworkers and allies about to leaflet a Ford factory were beaten by local police and company guards. Sixteen were injured, including seven women, and one man’s back was broken in what came to be called the “Battle of the Overpass.”

About 260 miles west around Republic Steel’s Chicago plant, “Steelworkers were on strike, 25,000 strong,” recounts the Illinois Labor History Society. “It was a warm, sunny holiday, a mass picket line and rally took place in a field near Republic Steel, led by the Steelworkers Organizing Committee of the newly formed CIO.”

It was the third day of a strike, and what resulted became known as the "Memorial Day Massacre" after troops, police and private security fired on peaceful steelworkers, their families and other supporters, killing 10 and injuring about 100.

For more, go to-

When police killed ten union activists in Chicago—and the film cover-up that followed.

05/25/2025

MAY YOUR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
BE THOUGHTFUL, SAFE AND HAPPY

05/24/2025

A CALL FOR PEORIA'S LABOR DAY
PARADE THIS YEAR

With the theme “Whatever it takes,” Peoria’s 2025 Labor Day Parade comes at a time when working people in general and labor unions in particular face many challenges.

The Labor Council of West Central Illinois is urging participation and has moved the event to accommodate requests from unions.

This year, the parade will be in West Peoria, where after the parade, various food and drinks, plus a ban and kids’ activities will be at Raber’s, 3000 W. Farmington Road.

Also, there’s no entry fee, but as always, union contributions help meet the costs involved.

For details, go to the labor council’s appeal for participation and donation, sent this month.