No Pressure Drop: After NATO Summit, Chicago Labor, Community Groups Protest Rahm and CME

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http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13276/weve_had_enough_say_chicago_labor_community_protestors/

CHICAGO—As anti-NATO protesters left the streets of Chicago last week, union members filled them again, in anticipation of decisions expected this week by the state legislature on a budget that will harm the public welfare.

They were fighting attacks on public workers and public services, some related to budget crises deepened by the lingering effects of the recession, others stemming from politicians' deference to the threats and more insidious influences of big corporations and financial institutions.

On Wednesday, May 23, nearly 5,000 teachers in bright red Chicago Teachers Union T-shirts and supporters marched through downtown streets, protesting the contract demands of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his school board. In front of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), in the heart of the city''s financial district, they met up with 1,000 marchers from Stand Up! Chicago—a union-community coalition initiated by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—who were part of a day-long series of protests against tax cuts won earlier this year by the hugely profitable CME Group, which owns both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and CBOT.

Stand Up! Chicago linked the tax cut to the threatened reductions in state funding for childcare for the coming fiscal year, which will make it more difficult for many needy parents to work.