Chicago Federation of Labor

10/09/2026

STANDING IN SOLIDARITY with UNITE HERE Local 1 workers on strike a several hotels across Chicago this morning.

Workers have been without a contract since Aug. 31. Their message is simple: “We work too hard to live like this!”

10/09/2026

APALA partnered with the Chicago Federation of Labor for an AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. We shared skills, strategies and pulled inspiration from our powerful AANHPI labor history. Time to organize!

10/07/2026

Many Irish America trade unionists are inspired by the two Pope Leos: the current incumbent from the Windy City who rails against the dangers to ordinary people of AI and his 19th Century predecessor whose 1891 Rerum novarum addressed the condition of the working class... To point: Bob Reiter, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor who was honoured at the Irish Echo gala was just back from Rome where he had met Pope Leo at a Vatican conference on the rights of workers.

These overnight transatlantic flights get tougher as the years pile up, and so am just now having the opportunity from Belfast, to salute the trade union champions honoured at the Irish Echo Labor Awards in the Edison Ballroom, Times Square, New York on 18 September.

10/07/2026

10/07/2026

Employees of the Barack Obama Foundation and Presidential Center announced today that they’re organizing a union with AFSCME.

The new union will represent more than 250 people who work in all aspects of Obama Foundation operations, including at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, at the foundation’s Washington DC offices, and throughout the country.

“We are the workers who spend our days fulfilling the vision and values of the Obama Foundation,” members of the union organizing committee wrote. “We strongly believe in the mission to ‘inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world,’ and now we’d like to change ours.”

They cited President Obama’s 2016 Open Letter to America’s Hardworking Men and Women, in which he said, “If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it.”

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Add your name here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/obama/

10/06/2026

Working families nationwide are all saying the same thing: Sh*t’s too expensive. Groceries, rent, utilities, gas - everything is skyrocketing.

This economy is broken. This November, let’s send pro-worker candidates to Congress and create an economy that works for all of us!

10/05/2026

The Chicago Federation of Labor’s candidate questionnaires for 2027 municipal elections are now LIVE!

For candidates seeking the CFL’s endorsement, your questionnaire is due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.

The Chicago Federation of Labor unites approximately 300 unions who represent more than 500,000 working people in Chicago and Cook County. See the CFL’s endorsements in the general election on Tuesday, November 3: 2027 Candidate …

10/01/2026

Isang Bagsak!

At the CFL Organizing Institute training we’re preparing future organizers and tapping into the pure, unfiltered energy of our communities’ history. This month, we are united in the rallying cry from the frontlines of the Filipino American labor movement: Isang Bagsak!

09/25/2026

Yesterday, CFL Secretary-Treasurer Don Villar joined the Priests for Justice for Immigrants in partnership with Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants to launch the Immigrant Crosses Project.

“In this moment, where folks are being marginalized, and folks are being disrespected and abused constantly, maybe this is a moment to find unity and community in the cross.”

- Don Villar