With the theme “Whatever it takes,” Peoria’s 2025 Labor Day Parade is relocating to West Peoria, where after the Sept. 1 parade, various food and drinks, plus a band and kids’ activities, will be at Raber’s, 3000 W. Farmington Road. The event remains sponsored by the Labor Council of West Central Illinois.
Carle Health laying off 612 workers starting July 8. Headquartered in Champaign, Carle Health announced that the company plans to lay off 612 employees this month, according to a notice filed with the state of Illinois. The state’s online workNet Center says that Carle Health cited its subsidiaries Health Alliance and FirstCarolinaCare ending all insurance plans other than Medicare Advantage by Jan. 1, 2026.
Carle has locations throughout central and southern Illinois, including Peoria, East Peoria. West Peoria, Peoria Heights, Pekin, Washington, Eureka, Farmington, Canton, Bloomington, Normal and Lincoln.
Trump defense chief disses union leaders. Continuing President Trump’s “whitewashing” of references to Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering some Navy ships to be renamed, including two vessels named for Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, both of whom led the United Farm Workers union.
According to CBS News, Hegseth wants to remove the names of gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, who was murdered by a white nationalist; Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall, who fought for equal rights; and Lucy Stone, a 19th century abolitionist and suffragist.
Champaign-area workers OK strike, unionize. Champaign County workers represented by AFSCME overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike — if necessary — and on campus at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Research Assistants are organizing with an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
“Nobody wants to strike — we just want to do our jobs, and to be paid fairly,” said AFSCME Local 900 President Cecelia Phillips. “But with our 96% vote to authorize a strike if necessary, we are saying loud and clear that we are serious, and we’re prepared to do what’s necessary to secure the contract we deserve.”
The union’s previous contract expired more than four months ago. Negotiations have stalled.
Elsewhere in Champaign County, Research Assistants at UIUC have “taken the first step toward unionization” as the IFT’s Graduate Employees’ Organization.
“RAs reported going through exploitation in terms of people not being paid, being overworked … facing retribution and punishment from supervisors who ask them to do things that weren’t in their job descriptions or their research appointments,” said Professor Augustus Wood of UIUC’s School of Labor and Employment Relations “That’s why you have so many more graduate unions now popping up across the country — because the exploitation, the abuse, it is pretty bad across the country.”
Galesburg cafeteria staff ratifies contract. Workers at Galesburg School District food service last month ratified their new contract, which has a 12% wage hike over the next three years, increases to their retirement plan, and improved seniority protections, according to SEIU Local 73.
“We fought hard for this, and together we won,” said Sandy Taylor, who also was one of the new SEIU Food Service Union stewards elected, along with Jami Dugan, Jackie Schisler and Tracy Butts.
Veterans group attacks Trump cuts. A veterans group recently took aim at President Trump’s cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Political Action Committee VoteVets said gutting the VA will result in delayed appointments and substandard care, leading directly to more veteran deaths.
Iraq veteran and VoteVets’ senior policy adviser Kayla Williams said, “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 current administration’s VA plans to reduce its workforce by more than 17%, about 82,000 staffers, and numerous contracts held by the agency have been cut. Beyond the VA, jobs held by veterans throughout the federal government and U.S. Postal Service also are being eliminated or are in jeopardy.
News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper: “Like” us — www.facebook.com/The-Labor-Paper