Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, warned that Chicago’s newly-elected mayor faces the very real possibility of three strikes by 35,000 employees unless she negotiates a fair contract with the “mostly black and brown” employees, many of them women, who are “underpaid and made invisible” by City Hall.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Service Employees Union Local 73 turned up the heat on Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday to resolve the union’s contract dispute with the Chicago Park District or risk leaving parents in the lurch in the event of teachers strike.

The union that represents 2,500 Park District employees and 7,500 support staff at the Chicago Public Schools delivered strike notices to the mayor’s office, chanted outside Lightfoot’s door and held a City Hall news conference to press their contract demands.

They were joined by three rookie Chicago aldermen: Michael Rodriguez (22nd); Andre Vasquez (40th) and Matt Martin (47th). Vasquez held a sign that read, “Parks and Schools are ready to strike.”

Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, warned that Chicago’s newly-elected mayor faces the very real possibility of three strikes by 35,000 employees unless she negotiates a fair contract with the “mostly black and brown” employees, many of them women, who are “underpaid and made invisible” by City Hall.

When government workers can vote: they'll vote for politicians that raise taxes.