Illinois AFL-CIO…
The Illinois AFL-CIO today issued the following statement in response to the Illinois House selecting Emanuel “Chris” Welch as the new Speaker:
“The Illinois AFL-CIO, representing nearly 1 million working families across the state, today offers a hearty congratulations to new Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. Speaker Welch has a proven track record of fighting for working families, and we are eager to work with him, Senate President Harmon and Gov. Pritzker to address the significant challenges facing the state of Illinois as we begin 2021.”
Tim Drea, President, Illinois AFL-CIO
Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer, Illinois AFL-CIO IFT…
Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) President Dan Montgomery released the following statement on today’s historic vote to elect Representative Emanuel “Chris” Welch as the first Black House Speaker in Illinois.
Madigan’s announcement Monday that he has suspended his campaign for speaker even if it is a last-ditch maneuver to retain power makes me hopeful that a new generation of change is coming.
Criminal backgrounds
One part of the bill, called the Employee Background Fairness Act, calls for strictly limiting the ability of employers to use a personâs criminal history to deny someone a job or take any other adverse action unless there is a âdirect relationshipâ between the conviction and the job, or if there is a specific federal, state or local law prohibiting the employment of such a person.
It also contains similar language regarding housing in buildings under the jurisdiction of public housing authorities.
âIt s just important to note that 55% of Illinois adults have a criminal record, and an applicant with a record is 50% less likely to get a callback for a job offer or an interview than an individual who does not,â said Matt Smith of Cabrini Green Legal Aid. âSo what we see is that just routinely, people who ve been caught up in the criminal legal system, sometimes decades prior, continue to face huge and insurmountable challenges in ge
Transit advocates breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Congress passed a new stimulus bill earmarking an estimated $486 million for Chicagoland public transportation, saving the CTA, Metra, and Pace from what CTA president Dorval Carter Jr. previously called a “beyond-doomsday” scenario. However, the total national bailout for public transportation only totaled $14 billion, less than half of the $32 billion agencies and advocates were pushing for. Representatives of these organizations were quick to note that we’re not out of the woods yet, and more federal funding will be needed to prevent future service cuts, fare hikes, and/or layoffs.
With the incoming transit-friendly Biden-Harris administration, and a possible Democratic takeover of the Senate pending the Georgia runoffs, there’s reason to be optimistic that more aid for public transportation will materialize next year. But what if the calvary don’t show up in the form of additional funding, and service cuts beco