Chicago, IL – “The charter schools are working educators to the bone, yet still not adequately staffing our classrooms. This isn’t fair to the students or the teachers, and we’re not going to take it,” states Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Charter Division Chairman Chris Baehrend.

Thomas “Blood” McCreary is a veteran of the Black liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s, having been a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), then the Black Panther Party (BPP), and then the Black Liberation Army. Today he continues to press for release of the former Panthers who are still in prison, many for 45 years. He also advocates for the dropping of the cases against the Panthers abroad, including Assata Shakur.

Chicago, IL – Rank-and-file Teamster militants attended the 43rd annual Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention in Chicago November 2 through 4. TDU is a reform movement founded in 1980 with the goal of improving the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and making it a union that fights for the members.

_Local 705 Freight drivers vote down proposed contract _

Chicago, IL – Negotiations are set to resume Monday, November 12, between Teamsters Local 705 and UPS over a tentative five-year contract for over 10,000 UPS workers in the Chicago area.

Chicago, IL – On November 1, John Bolton gave perhaps the sharpest anti-communist speech by a U.S. National Security Advisor since the end of the Cold War. While celebrating the election of far-right thug Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil as a “positive sign” for South America, he condemned Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as “the Troika of Tyranny… the genesis of a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere.” He declared that all peoples of Latin America should “look to the north, look to our flag” and that soon “the Troika will crumble, the people will triumph, and the righteous flame of freedom will burn brightly again in this hemisphere.”

Chicago, IL – The Teamsters Local 705 negotiating committee informed UPS, October 31, that the contract extension covering over 10,000 UPS workers will be over in 30 days. Both sides will likely continue to meet before that date.

Chicago, IL – Negotiations continued between Teamsters Local 705 and UPS, October 25 and 26, on a collective bargaining agreement covering nearly 10,000 Chicago-area workers and one of the last two to settle with UPS around the country.

Chicago, IL – Strikes are on the agenda. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) made this perfectly clear, turning out more than 250 people on October 24 for a rally to announce strike authorization votes at 19 charter schools next week. The votes will occur at two of the largest charter networks: Acero (formerly UNO, famous for scandals) and Chicago International Charter School (CICS).

Chicago, IL – Over 1000 Teamster Local 705 members packed their union hall, October 21, on the eve of serious negotiations with UPS. Support was widespread for the bargaining team, who are ready to end their contract extension should the company refuse to address some key issues.

Chicago, IL – Thousands of Chicago-area Teamsters may be holding a strike vote as early as November 1 as negotiations drag on between Teamsters Local 705 and United Parcel Service.

Chicago, IL – Nearly 500 teachers, students, parents and allies gathered at the Chicago Board of Education, Sept. 26, to call for equal pay for equal work for charter school educators. “We fought for and won a large increase in state funding for education in Chicago, but in our schools most of that money was pocketed by charter operators and not put into their classrooms,” said Chicago Teachers Union Charter Division Chairperson Chris Baehrend.

Chicago, IL – Frank Chapman is Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a leading organization in the fight against police crimes in Chicago. The Alliance created the legislation for the elected, Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) that is gaining support among progressive candidates for the Chicago city council. The Alliance also has led the mobilization of over 400 people since the Sept. 5 start of the trial of Jason Van Dyke, who shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014.

DOJ, FBI, and DHS fail to disclose records on CVE initiative

Chicago, IL – On Sept. 26, the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), a grassroots community organizing and social services institution based in southwest Chicagoland, filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI to force them to release records about a secretive and controversial federal initiative called Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), and how it has spread to Illinois. The CVE initiative is a collection of federal programs and grants, allegedly designed to prevent homegrown terrorism by identifying potentially ‘radicalized’ people in local communities.

Black liberation is a not a state of mind that can be characterized as “Black Marxism” or the “Black Radical Tradition.” Nonetheless, there is an ideological need to settle accounts on this question of the identity between the “Black Radical Tradition” and Marxism.

Chicago, IL – The memory of murdered Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr. was marked at a “Streetz Party,” August 30, at 2337 W. Chairman Fred Hampton Way (also known as Monroe Street), the site of his martyrdom. Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr. would have been 70 years old on August 30 of this year.

Chicago, IL – More than 100 people rallied at South Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway, Sept. 15, to demand justice for Laquan McDonald.