NBC Chicago: Pat Quinn hasn't been in the public spotlight very much lately, but the former Illinois governor surfaced Wednesday at a protest in Chicago with stagehands who were demanding the right to unionize.
The group organized the protest outside of JAM Productions Ltd, a live entertainment production company located at 207 W. Goethe St. in Old Town, after about 40 stagehands were allegedly fired after trying to form a union, they say. The protesters said they were seeking pay increases and better working conditions, and they claimed that they have not received raises in seven to 15 years.
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There has been a slew of conversation recently centering around Unions and worker’s rights. Within the past month there have been issues within the Arts ranging from Voice Actors for video-games voting to strike to the Actor’s Equity Association working on getting it’s members a minimum wage. Now workers have been fired for attempting to Unionize. First and foremost, isn’t this ILLEGAL?! Illinois is not a right to work state, so how is the JAM company allowed to get away with this? I can only assume that some type of litigation is pending or soon follow. Regardless, I am curious if there is considerable pro-union movement on the horizon. We recently discussed in a class with Molly McCarter that Union participation in the U.S. has dropped nearly 58% since the mid 1950’s. This recent influx of union/worker’s rights seems to indicate that the pendulum will most likely swing back in the pro-union direction very soon.
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