At 6:00 am on June 25, 2021, the SEIU Local 73 representatives of Cook County workers took to the streets to strike for fairer contract provisions. 

For context, approximately two million workers at businesses from the public sector, property service, and healthcare comprise the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU advocates for a universally equitable society. The Local 73 serves as a mediator for over thirty-one thousand workers in Illinois and NW Indiana. The members of this union are integral to our community and support the success of our cities and states. 

Prior to the strike, Cook County offered a 2% pay increase for each year from 2022-2024 with no growth in salary for 2021. In addition to insufficient raises, Cook County attempted to increase the cost of health insurance for workers by a maximum of 80%. Furthermore, despite the federal government funding pandemic pay, Cook County did not offer it to County employees. Essentially, the president of the Cook County board of commissioners, Toni Preckwinkle, tried to allocate millions in reserves from federal Covid relief to hire replacement workers.  Cook County workers were outraged at the actions of President Preckwinkle and her negotiators. “They were asking for the ultimate sacrifice… we didn’t know what the virus was. We were still going to work and getting sick… they weren’t being fair in how they were compensating our workers,” said Dian Palmer, President of Local 73.

Community members and organizations came out to support the over twenty-five hundred striking Cook Country Workers: SEIU Local 1, State Rep. Lakesia Collins (D-9), and Chair of UMUAC (Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council) Kelvin Sandridge, to name a few. 

Local 73 was on strike at the Markham Courthouse, Stroger Hospital, and County Jail regarding this issue. In terms of a resolution between the County and its workers, Local 73 said it wanted a contract package that is on par with other unions before it terminated the strike. 

As confirmed on July 13, 2021, Cook County workers and the County reached a tentative agreement after over ten months of deliberation and eighteen days of striking. The strike garnered contract improvements by providing hazard pay for certain workers during the pandemic, and prioritizing seniority in hiring and promotions, as stated in the July 13, 2021, SEIU Local 73 press release. A panel of arbitrators led by a neutral party will decide other conditions in the new contract. The now-ended strike is the longest in the history of Local 73 and has raised the living conditions of the county’s primarily brown, Black, and female workers.