Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/category/key-issue/employmentlabor/page/4/)
In Illinois, as in other states and cities across the nation, fiscal fears are heightened by comparisons to Detroit. In pursuit of his agenda, Gov. Bruce Rauner seems eager to exploit a crisis.
A bump in Chicago’s minimum wage to $10 per hour on July 1 still won’t be enough to support a family, according to a living wage calculator that measures the cost of living in cities across the nation.
If Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to provide Chicago youth the hopeful future he spoke about this week in his inaugural address, there are a number of areas where concerted leadership could make a big difference.
State finance official says there is a sensible way to deal with the pension crisis that is “constitutional, … affordable and the only viable path available.”
With “right to work” rhetoric increasing in Illinois and threatening workers — especially blacks and Latinos — who benefit from organized-labor movements, it’s worth recalling the first proponent of this anti-union agenda.
Low-wage workers in Chicago will join a nationwide mobilization for a $15-an-hour living wage on Wednesday — just a week after Mayor Emanuel was re-elected, with his multiyear minimum-wage hike as a major campaign theme.
People with criminal records are advised to move on with their lives after they have been punished for breaking the law. But it’s not easy. In Illinois, more than 100 jobs are off limits to those convicted of a felony.
Savon Patterson struck the fingers of his right hand with his left index finger as he counted his financial obligations one-by-one. “I got to pay my car note,” the 21-year-old father said last month. “I have to move. I got another kid on the way. Christmas is coming up.
Eidy Gaspar was surprised when her manager said she wouldn’t be paid overtime anymore. Gaspar, a warehouse worker in suburban Chicago, didn’t object because she feared being blacklisted by the temporary agency that hired her: Staffing Network, one of the largest hiring agencies in Illinois.
Maria Garcia, 37, came to the United States from Mexico when she was 16. She came, as she says, to work. Six years ago she left her husband and started supporting her six children on her own while earning a little more than minimum wage. Garcia’s story illustrates what it looks like to support a family on less than $10 an hour working more than full-time.