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Season 5, Episode 223

SEIU Local 73 in dispute with city of Chicago over new contract start

Local 73 SEIU Gray

 

Guest Name:


Dian Palmer

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SEIU Local 73 

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Dian Palmer, President of the Service Employees International Union Local 73, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how her union member husband helped guide her to a career with SEIU. Palmer also talked about the contract issues with the city of Chicago and the difficult negotiations workers at the University of Illinois went through to earn their new contract.

SEIU Local 73 represents 35,000 workers in Illinois and Indiana. These workers are primarily public service and publicly funded in school districts, municipalities, social service agencies and more. Palmer was a registered nurse facing workplace mistreatment from her employer. She was first introduced to SEIU when Palmer’s husband, a member of the United Steelworkers, recommended she reach out to their organizers and see how they could help. After helping to lead that organizing drive, Palmer explained how she found herself at Local 73 and inevitably elected President of the Local.

On June 22, 2022, the previous contract for the city of Chicago workers expired. They ratified a new contract in short order, but the contract still has not been implemented. Palmer explained how the delay is the result of the city’s dispute with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 21 whose contract is tied to SEIU Local 73’s contract. She discussed why Local 73 hopes to implement their contract before their pandemic bonus expires in December. There are a few options available to the city of Chicago that could allow the Local 73 contract to be implemented before the December deadline, and Palmer discussed the next steps for the Local.

Finally, Palmer discussed the University of Illinois food service and building service workers that ratified a 3-year worker. The Local represents about 900 workers on campus, and she explained why these workers have always struggled to earn a new contract. These negotiations took an 8-day strike before the two sides could finalize a new contract. Palmer explained the wins for workers in the new contract and how the Local is preparing for future university negotiations.

For more from Palmer and SEIU Local 73, please listen to the show above.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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