2,000 Car Mechanics Strike in Chicago – Boca Raton Teachers Sickout – El Paso Nurses Pull Off Win

Striking mechanics picket Aug. 1 outside a dealership. (Amanda Svachula/ Chicao Sun-Times)

Folks, 

Greetings from the Burgh, where local TV stations are citing Payday’s exclusive on the resignation of retail developer Ira Gumper from the Board of Trustees at CMU following  (Donate a few bucks to keep the momentum going)

Fifty Car Dealerships Strike in Chicago

In Chicago, 2,000 mechanics of IAM Local 701 went on strike at 5o different car dealerships to protest low wages. 

The strike comes after 99% of the union voted to strike. With such a strong amount of support for the strike, it could last some time. 

The last time car mechanics struck in Chicago it lasted for two months in 2017. 

For more, check WFLD. 

Palm Beach, Florida Teachers Sick Out Strike

In Palm Beach, Florida, it is suspected that union teachers went on a “sickout strike” to protest Governor DeSantis’ ban on schools implementing mask bans. 

“DeSantis tried to buy our support,” a Boca Raton elementary school teacher told Boca News Now. “He bragged about bonuses and higher pay, but it’s all meaningless [sic] of teachers get sick or die. He is playing politics with our lives and the lives of our students.”

For more, check out Boca News Now. 

Two El Paso Hospitals Unionize Following Strikes 

Last year, Payday covered how 500 nurses at two hospitals in El Paso went on strike to protest not making $15 an hour.  Now, those nurses have won a first contract. 

“We are gratified to have achieved important improvements, especially additional health and safety protections for patients and nurses in the face of yet another Covid-19 pandemic surge,” Las Palmas RN Juan Anchondo said in a statement. 

For more, check out National Nurses United.

Teamsters Win Victory Against Amazon in Fort Wayne 

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a community coalition has defeated an attempt by Amazon to win a $7 million tax abatement. Labor leaders in Fort Wayne hailed it as a massive victory. 

“Amazon made $21 billion in profits last year and already received a tax break for the building in Fort Wayne, then they came back looking for more,” Ehren Gerdes, Teamsters Local 414 Business Agent, said in a statement. “The money Amazon requested to not pay in taxes would be a drop in the bucket for the company but could go a long way toward real investments in the Fort Wayne community. We urged the Fort Wayne City Council to vote no and not let Amazon take advantage of our community, and we’re grateful that they listened.” 

For more, check out the Teamsters website. 

News Elsewhere

Hear about a strike or walkout or just want to share some comments? Drop us a line at [email protected]

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Love & Solidarity, 

Melk

About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. In addition to filing nearly 2,000 stories from 46 states, Elk traveled with Lula from Sáo Bernando do Campos all the way to the Oval Office in the White House. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and works frequently in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended college at PUC-Rio. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburghese fluently. His email is [email protected]

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