WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

After not one, but two factory closings, the former workers of Republic Windows and Doors decided to take things into their own hands.

A WBEZ analysis of U.S. labor statistics finds that foreign-born worker deaths increased nearly 14% in two years as native-born fatalities held steady.

Eighty-seven percent of teachers at one of the largest charter school networks in Chicago voted to unionize.

Retail and fast food employees are calling for a downtown minimum wage of $15 an hour. 

Union president Karen Lewis says a “voter education campaign” will add 100,000 new voters in Chicago.

For the first time in years, American companies blew past the cap on H-1B visa petitions to sponsor educated, foreign workers. Many say that’s a sign of economic recovery, but some say the program is rife with abuses.

Ai-jen Poo talks about her work organizing domestic workers across the country and will discuss the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights with Senator Ira Silverstein, the sponsor of this groundbreaking piece of legislation and a local domestic worker from Chicago Coalition for Domestic Workers.