A Scholarly Affair With a Side of Activism

CHICAGO — The joint meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion drew 10,700 scholars, professors, publishers and clergy members last weekend to the McCormick Place Convention Center, where for four days they established their alternate universe. It was reminiscent of the Mos Eisley cantina in “Star Wars,” filled with polyglot eccentrics. Dead languages lived (He speaks Latin! She reads Akkadian!). One saw robed Buddhist monks; priests and friars, collared or cassocked; nuns, in habit or not; imams in kufis; the occasional yarmulked Jew. And thousands more in rumpled khakis, name tag on lanyard like an officer’s medals. They clutched biblical concordances, Hebrew lexicons, Gospel commentaries.

We deserve better: Hotel workers talking union

Keisha Johnson may have missed her bus to work. She has lived for only a month at her current house, a small white-siding rent-to-own she shares with her husband, and she is still learning the IndyGo bus schedules. She steps off the curb and nervously scans the horizon north on Capitol Avenue. Finally, the No.4 comes into view. Sighing with relief, Johnson boards, finds a seat, and begins to put on her makeup.

Gathering for convention, religious scholars see labor issues as more than academic

Some religious scholars plan to spotlight the issue of fair labor this weekend in Chicago by boycotting the Hyatt hotel chain.

The American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature’s joint conference at McCormick Place, which is expected to attract several thousand scholars to the city, booked space in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and the Hyatt Regency Chicago, but some participants say they will avoid the hotels based on teachings rooted in Scripture.

Union members make presence known at gaming commission

INDIANAPOLIS | Union casino workers were seen but not heard at Thursday’s meeting of the Indiana Gaming Commission.

About a dozen members of Unite Here Local 1 showed up at the 1 p.m. meeting of the Indiana Gaming Commission in Indianapolis to protest the layoff of 80 employees at Majestic Star Casinos.

Laid-off casino workers take complaints to Indianapolis

Several laid-off Majestic Star Casino employees and family members took their fight to Thursday’s meeting of the Indiana Gaming Commission in Indianapolis.

Airports Go Green … And, Labor Leaders Fear, Bust Unions

Outside the Westin River North hotel in downtown Chicago on Nov. 5, about 20 men and women in winter clothes stood quietly facing the entrance, handing out fliers. They read, “Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Stop Eliminating GOOD JOBS” and implored people to call the mayor and “tell him to keep our airport CLEAN & SAFE, and our families STRONG.”

Layoffs hit Gary’s Majestic Star

GARY — About 80 workers at Majestic Star Casino and Hotel have lost their jobs as the casino reshuffles its organizational structure in response to a soft regional economy, the company said Tuesday.