The Latest Breaking News from Robert Bruno

Woman Survives After “Holding On For Dear Life” To Rising Drawbridge She Was Told Not To Cross

The woman, who remains at the hospital, was described by one witness as not being "in a good mental state."

Bored Panda · Jul 2, 2025

Unions push to represent more workers, but organized labor’s share of jobs is declining

Organizing and mobilizing have gone on throughout the Chicago area with nurses and other health care employees, graduate teaching assistants, cannabis store crews, baristas and retail associates.

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 20, 2023

U. of I. professor examines complexity and contradictions of work

Robert Bruno’s book “What Work Is” draws on how his students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign characterized their jobs and how they affect daily life.

Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 4, 2023

Chicago State University faculty walk out on strike

University administrators said all support services and most, if not all, classes would continue during the strike.

Chicago Sun-Times · Apr 3, 2023

Chicago State University faculty inch closer to a strike

Professors at the state’s only majority-Black public university are some of Illinois’ lowest paid.

Chicago Sun-Times · Mar 24, 2023

2022 saw a wave of new unions form. Getting to the bargaining table is the next challenge

CHICAGO — As snow fell on the picket line outside a Bucktown Starbucks in November, striking unionized baristas kept warm with cups of Colectivo Coffee, which is brewed by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union that also represents baristas at Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee.

Chicago Tribune · Jan 3, 2023

Unionized Starbucks baristas need more than enthusiasm

Voting for a union is one thing; achieving a contract is quite another if the employer is in no hurry to begin bargaining.

Chicago Sun-Times · Dec 26, 2022

Illinois’ weed workers pushing to unionize, seeking higher pay, better safety

Three years after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation legalizing recreational marijuana, Illinois cannabis workers have had 30 unionization elections, winning 88% of them.

Chicago Sun-Times · Dec 2, 2022

Starbucks baristas say no to union at two of three Chicago stores

The union representing Starbucks workers faced unusual losses in Chicago union elections Tuesday with baristas at two out of three stores voting against unionization.

Chicago Tribune · Jun 8, 2022

Chicago is seeing a wave of union activity. Among the reasons: Workers ‘saw the willingness of their bosses to let them die.’

Last year, Brick Zurek, a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Chicago's Loop, found working conditions at the store becoming increasingly untenable.

Chicago Tribune · Jun 3, 2022