ILLINOIS NURSING IN CRISIS | A Comprehensive Survey Reveals a Continuing Systemic level of Staffing Shortages, Moral Distress, and Attrition Among Registered Nurses

For over two years, the COVID-19 pandemic stressed nurses and tested their skills and stamina. Preexisting nursing shortages deepened, leading to heightened workloads and severe burnout among nurses. Now, in the aftermath of COVID, a new survey reveals a continuing crisis of nurses’ mental and physical well-being, patient care quality, and the overall public health … Read more

UNION REPRESENTATION DURING A PANDEMIC | The Case of K-12 School COVID Protocols, Public Health and Individual Autonomy

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the Illinois educational workforce, creating a complex interplay between public health measures, individual autonomy, and union dynamics. This report, based on a survey of Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) members, highlights these multifaceted responses to vaccine mandates and the intricate position of teachers’ unions during these … Read more

THE ECONOMIC AND FISCAL IMPACTS OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION

Following the severe economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois is in urgent need of good jobs that provide family-supporting incomes and ensure access to quality health care coverage. One essential industry that has consistently offered pathways into good, middle-class careers is construction– primarily because it is highly unionized with strong collective bargaining agreements … Read more

THE IMPACT OF RELAXING NURSE PRACTITIONER LICENSING TO REDUCE COVID MORTALITY

Nurse practitioners (NP) are well-trained health care personnel for primary, acute, and specialty care in the US. However, 32 states have restrictions on their scope of practice and Illinois is one of them. In response to the shortage of health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic, twenty-one states granted NP full practice authority to cope … Read more

ILLINOIS UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT WORKERS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the U.S. economy in an unprecedented way. About 20.5 million people have lost their jobs. In April the unemployment rate had already skyrocketed to 14.7%. In this report, we chronicle the employment conditions, health insurance coverage, and wages of Illinois’ vulnerable undocumented immigrant workers. We then propose adopting a form … Read more

THE EFFECTS OF THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC ON ILLINOIS WORKERS

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a range of structural economic and public health inequities. On the one hand, the lowest-paid workers– higher shares of whom are women and people of color– are generally at the highest risk of becoming infected, unemployed, and uninsured. On the other hand, many middle- class workers have kept the economy … Read more

IMPLEMENTING A WORK-SHARE PROGRAM IN ILLINOIS

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has brought the economy to a grinding halt. Businesses have temporarily closed and unemployment has substantially increased. While unprecedented actions have already been taken by the federal government and the State of Illinois, additional changes may be needed to stabilize the economy. This report considers the economic impacts of Illinois … Read more