This week on the Friday Flyover, Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan battle for Speaker of the U.S. House | UAW President Shawn Fain announces 8,700 Ford Kentucky Truck plant workers are joining the strike | Nurses are striking around the nation | Wisconsin Supreme Court judge Janet Protasiewicz stands her ground against GOP goofballshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/republicans-fail-to-coalesce-around-speaker-choice-leaving-house-in-limbo/ar-AA1i49oxhttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/11/uaw-launches-strike-against-fords-kentucky-truck-plant-signaling-major-escalation-in-labor-fight.htmlOct. 11 – Today, Ford came to the table with the same offer they submitted to us two weeks ago. It was an unacceptable move that triggered a strong and immediate response.UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Chuck Browning called on our 8,700 members at Ford’s extremely profitable Kentucky Truck Plant to Stand Up and strike. Our Local 862 members answered the call and walked out today at 6:30 p.m.Our Stand Up strategy has won important victories at the table, but we must go further. We will keep increasing the pressure on Ford and all of the Big Three until we’ve won our fair share of the record profits we’ve made at Kentucky Truck and every Big Three plant.Tune in to Facebook Live this Friday, Oct. 13 at 10 a.m. for more announcements on the status of bargaining at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.General Motors last week agreed to include workers at its electric vehicle battery plant in the company’s national contract with the union, which Fain called a “transformative win.”Fain said the union expects Chrysler parent Stellantis and Ford to follow suit, including battery plant workers in eventual contract agreements.The UAW has been gradually increasing the strikes since the work stoppages began after the sides failed to reach tentative agreements by Sept 14.The additional workers brings UAW’s total to about 34,000 U.S. workers, or roughly 23% of UAW members covered by the expired contracts with the Detroit automakers, who are currently on strike.Fain will give bargaining updates and potentially announce further strikes at 10 a.m. Friday online, the union said Wednesday night.https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/nurses-unions-push-for-mandatory-staff-to-patient-ratiosSafe Patients Limit Act would cap the number of patients per registered nurseBy PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Unions representing nurses in Illinois are pushing for legislation that would impose mandatory staff-to-patient ratios in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities.But lobby groups representing hospitals and nursing homes say they are steadfastly opposed to the legislation, arguing that a nationwide nursing shortage makes it impossible to comply with such a mandate.The proposed Safe Patient Limits Act, by Sen. Celina Villanueva and Rep. Theresa Mah, both Chicago Democrats, was introduced in February and was the subject of a joint hearing last week in Chicago by two House committees. It’s an issue that has been discussed in the General Assembly since 2019 but has thus far failed to gain the necessary traction for passage. The latest hearing came just three weeks before lawmakers return to the Capitol for their fall veto session, which begins Oct. 24.“Short staffing isn't a mere inconvenience. It's a dire issue,” said Shaba Andrich, vice president of nursing homes for the SEIU Healthcare employee union. “It's predominantly a Black and brown issue. In historically marginalized communities of Chicago, these issues are magnified. These communities that already face systemic underinvestment are further deprived of adequate nursing care due to chronic short staffing.”The bill calls for setting a maximum number of patients that could be assigned to a registered nurse in specified situations. For example, in units with critical care or intensive care patients, the maximum number of patients per nurse would be just on