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Obama Library CBA Campaign Gains Momentum With Addition of Powerhouse Labor Unions


Proposed Obama Library
Proposed Obama Library (Source: Obama Foundation)

Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Health Care Illinois/Indiana join the campaign to #GetItInWriting.

Chicago, IL –(ENEWSPF)—October 12, 2017

By: Obama Library CBA Coalition

Yesterday the presidents of two of the metro region’s most dynamic labor unions — the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Health Care Illinois/Indiana — announced they are joining the ranks of the Obama Library Southside CBA Coalition. The unions are adding their voice to a growing call for an ordinance to create a Community Benefits Agreement with the Obama Presidential Center — and to get commitments in writing and ensure accountability with the City of Chicago, the University of Chicago, and the Obama Foundation.

CTU President Karen Lewis and SEIU HCII President Greg Kelly will joined coalition members yesterday in front of Mayor Emanuel’s office on the 5th floor of City Hall to announce next steps in the effort.

“We’re excited to stand with the CTU and SEIU today as they join the campaign for a CBA,” said Jawanza Malone, the Executive Director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, a member of the CBA Coalition. Mr. Malone added: “It’s critical that a formal city ordinance be put in place to mitigate the risk posed by a large-scale development like the Obama Presidential Center. For the last seven years of Emanuel’s tenure, the black community has struggled with unprecedented violence, Great Depression Era levels of unemployment, 50 school closings, and housing instability.  We cannot trust Rahm Emanuel to protect our families. And, we believe that without agreements, he will use this development to accelerate the push out of black families on the south side.”

As Mayor Emanuel’s hand-picked school boss and his cronies prepare for another round of school closings, the Chicago Teachers Union is joining the call for the CBA because it calls for investment in neighborhood public schools — not closure. The Service Employees International Union wants to ensure that the Obama Presidential Center and surrounding developments create living wage jobs, and that measures are taken to prevent the displacement of the primarily African American low-income and working families that live in the area surrounding the Obama Presidential Center. Both unions are joining community groups in asking Mayor Emanuel to support a CBA ordinance that will get commitments to community residents in writing, and ensure accountability from the City of Chicago, the University of Chicago, and the Obama Foundation.

The Obama Library CBA Coalition is led by the Bronzeville Regional Collective (BRC), Kenwood Oakland Community Org. (KOCO), Prayer and Action Collective (PAC), Southside Together Organizing Power (STOP), Westside Health Authority (WHA), the Poor People’s Campaign Inc., the Black Youth Project 100 — Allied with Alliance of the Southeast (ASE), Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), Chicago Jobs Council (CJC), Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Chicago Rehab Network, Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT), Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO), Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ), the Wolfpack, Woodlawn East Community And Neighbors (WECAN), and the Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement.

Source: Obama Library CBA Coalition


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