* Nothing yet from the governor’s office, but the Edwardsville City Council voted down Gov. Rauner’s “right to work” resolution last night. I didn’t see any news coverage, but this is from a local resident, who is also a commenter here…

About a hundred union members showed up. (The pic was taken about 6:45 and it got so crowded that people filled the hall outside the chamber). Five people were allowed to speak (of which I was one and all five were local people).

At first the Mayor explained that they would discuss the measure then table it. Several of the council members during their discussion advocated voting immediately. They made a motion to table the agenda, but the council voted that down! They then called for a vote with brief discussion (the conservative members grousing about not getting to table the issue. Obviously this was not the plan) They then proceeded to vote the Agenda down. All was civil but you could tell the Mayor Patton was [upset] and embarrassed.

I can honestly say all the union folks I saw there were local and many if not most I recognized. Not a Rauner person in sight, although the three conservatives all mentioned that they had just spoken to the Rauner folks.

The pic…

* From the Illinois AFL-CIO…

Evanston unanimously rejects Rauner anti-worker resolution tonight.

Girard City Council votes down Rauner anti-worker resolution 4-1 tonight.

* From Evanston Now…

Jason Hays, of 712 Dobson St., a member of Evanston Firefighters Local 742, said the governor cried for shared sacrifice, “but left it to workers to do the heavy lifting.”

He said the governor’s proposal for “right to work” legislation would create a “‘right to work’ — for less — less representation, less safety, less protection and less equity.”

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, calling the governor’s proposal “wrongheaded,” moved that the Rules Committee reject the endorsement resolution and send a copy of the video of public comment at the meeting to the governor.

“We should stand by the people in the audience tonight,” Rainey added.

Her motion was approved on a unanimous roll-call vote.

* Meanwhile, in Rockford…

Union workers rallied Monday outside City Hall to protest the City Council’s support of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda.”

A divided council endorsed Rauner’s plan April 20 in an 8-5 vote on a nonbinding resolution. Workers at the rally want aldermen to reconsider their support of the plan, which includes reforming pensions, eliminating unfunded mandates, creating right-to-work zones and eliminating statewide prevailing wages on government contracts.

It’s the proposed right-to-work zones that earned the ire of ralliers. They say right-to-work laws are bad for the economy because they drive down wages for all workers. Nearly 300 people from several local labor groups attended the rally.

A pic from the protest…

       

56 Comments - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:07 am: “Good morning, ‘ck’- Don’t worry, there’s still plenty more towns to reject or table the ‘Tournaround Agenda’. Best, ow” - Hyperbolic Chamber - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:11 am: Gov. Rauner rolling dice: “Come on… 7.” Croupier: “Craps… Again.” - paddyrollingstone - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:13 am: Cue Nelson Muntz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_4bLNM0axE - Seriously? - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:14 am: As much as I want people to stand together, I would not let a wrongheaded individual like Evanston’s 8th Ward Alderman Ann Rainey leading the movement. Her work on economic development has been an embarrassment in terms of unadulterated crony capitalism: a city subsidized wine bar on Howard Street, a chicken and waffles restaurant with alleged ties to local pols, allowing a shopping mall developer to sell his property without repaying his loans to the city. Rainey is one of the reasons for Evanston being so deeply in debt as one of the worst managed cities in Illinois. - chi - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:16 am: Wouldn’t it be great if Rockford sees the light and reverses its previous support? Rauner’s biggest fish jumping back into the ocean with everyone else. - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:19 am: Thank God he doesn’t read the news. ‘twould ruin his day. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:19 am: Dear Governor’s Office, Your boss, who has been successful at everything he’s ever done isn’t failing. You are failing him. It may come to that. It may be time to cut your loses. It may be best if y’all table this instead of towns tabling your boss. It may. It may be time… to save Sonny from himself. You’re welcome. Thanks”!”, OW - Juvenal - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:19 am: This puts Dwight Kay in a really, really tight spot. - walker - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:22 am: Waking the complacent giant. - Anon - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:27 am: Haha! I’ll bet when they’re done they’ll claim they won and have a mandate from the people and every town and county that voted the other way is corrupt. - Precinct Captain - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:31 am: Does anyone have a total population of places with resolutions in favor versus those that have voted it down? - Wordslinger - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:31 am: Time for the Rauner peeps to declare victory and retreat. - Sir Reel - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:32 am: All those people in the Edwardsville pic must be union bosses. That’s the only explanation. - BlameBruceRauner - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:35 am: Well Well Well ck this one is a punishing body shot to the turn around agenda! I love the counsel members voting down tabling the measure! That’s a strong sign to the right wing yahoos that people are tired of the attacks and want the Govern to get on with governing. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:39 am: ===This puts Dwight Kay in a really, really tight spot.=== Macro messaging missing the mark on micro politics… There are 118 State House and 59 State Senate districts. Treating them all the same with one message is a fatal flaw. Having “up or down” votes that you put yourself in a position to be losing day after day, when a 100% victory is the only thing to justify having all these votes, that is just ignorance to politics. Amateur. Hour. “Thanks!” - Steve - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:39 am: Yeah, we are for less competition in the labor market! We are Illinois! - VanillaMan - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:42 am: Thanks to the Turnaround Agenda, Governor Rauner has returned bipartisanship across Illinois. Young and old, working and retired, conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat - all believe that the new governor needs to do his job and stop threatening Illinois families with his ridiculous buy-partisan foolishness. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:43 am: – …we are for less competition in the labor market!– What in the world does that mean in this context? - Commonsense in Illinois - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:45 am: Bruce Rauner is proving he can do more to grow the ranks and solidarity of organized labor than the last five presidents of the Illinois AFL-CIO combined. Mike Carrigan may have to give the Governor a “finder’s fee” at least… - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:46 am: @Steve Yay, poverty for everyone! - too obvious - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:47 am: Sad Rauner can’t get any people to these meetings. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:47 am: - Steve -, Slogans aren’t facts, even when the slogan makes no sense, it still isn’t factual. Try adding to your argument, an actual argument. - From the Stateline - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:56 am: Additionally, last night the Village of Rockton Administration Committee voted to remove the resolution from tonight’s Board of Trustees agenda. VanillaMan - “buy-partisan” is great. Thanks for the laughs on such a dreary morning. - Apocalypse Now - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:56 am: ===This puts Dwight Kay in a really, really tight spot.=== I don’t recall Dwight Kay voting for at the Edwardsville City Council meeting. - Under Further Review - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:57 am: It is worth noting that “Evanston Now” is in essence the official online party organ of the Evanston City Council. It is not a neutral, objective or unbiased source on events and activities in Evanston. - John A Logan - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:02 am: Another embarrassment for the Gov. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:05 am: ===It is not a neutral, objective or unbiased source=== They got the facts right, so that’s all I care about. Nobody else wrote about it. You takes whats you can get. - Cheswick - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:10 am: Imagining the phone conversations from the Rauner folks to the three conservative council members went something like this: Rauner folk: Good things are gonna happen. Council member: Uh… RF: It’s all about local control. CF: Um… RF: Don’t let the obstructionists win this. CF: Ur… - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:13 am: Also, UFR, I hope you bring up the same objection next time I post something from the Illinois Policy Institute’s “news service.” Just sayin… lol - Apocalypse Now - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:18 am: Didn’t Granite City Steel a few miles away just announce a shut down of the plant idling over 800 union workers? Wonder if they would rather be working or attending City council meetings? - Mittuns - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:19 am: Kay’s going to need one of Bruce’s $20 million next year to stick around. There was an absolutely brutal mailer sent around a few weeks ago. - Honeybear - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:19 am: -This puts Dwight Kay in a really, really tight spot- I totally agree with that. DK drank the Turnaround coolaid. Every time Rauner gets within 50 miles of Glen Carbon, Dwight’s in the picture with him. Last election the unions didn’t really get out against him. Many of those at the council meeting last night that I know are registered Republicans. They supported Dwight and Rauner. I’m sure that’s not going to happen again. No, Dwights owner (Rauner)poked the badger and walked away leaving Dwight holding the stick. - Taxman - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:20 am: Local officials better beware of walkin the plank with BVR. He is going to need a new gig soon. We are watching and ready to vote any anti-union supporters out of office. - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:20 am: “Waking the complacent giant.” Another day and another bad showing for RTW. Where are all the Illinois residents at the local government hearings who support RTW? There don’t seem to be many of them because the RTW push is done by a relative handful of multimillionaires and billionaires. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:21 am: - Apocalypse Now -, It’s about Rauner trying to leverage Kay with “groundswells” of support, that aren’t there. Rauner owns the Caucuses, but the locals elect the members of the Caucuses. Please, keep up. - Under Further Review - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:24 am: Rich, I hear you, but I made my comment for the benefit of the readers who are not familiar with “Evanston Now.” I will accept your word that the coverage was accurate. Sometimes, it is distorted. In local circles, it has been compared to “Pravda.” It is worth reading, but has to be taken with a grain of salt. The comments posted on the site are oftentimes heavily censored in that opposing views are frequently deleted. I am not talking about objectionable comments, but those that simply deviate from the party line. You have not lived until you hear Ann Rainy argue with people who make public comments at City Hall meetings. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:25 am: ===idling over 800 union workers=== That had zero to do with the union. Next! - Arsenal - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:28 am: “Where are all the Illinois residents at the local government hearings who support RTW?” My theory is, unless you’re in a union or a captain of industry, union issues just aren’t a voting issue for you. That’s why Rauner chickened out on them during the campaign. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:30 am: ===Wonder if they would rather be working or attending City council meetings?=== What does that mean? Union workers not attending would be rewarded with a job? - Apocalypse Now - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:47 am: ===idling over 800 union workers=== ==That had zero to do with the union. Next! So where did all those union steel worker jobs go?== Overseas and to nonunion shops. Has everything to do with high union labor costs and benefits. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:49 am: Honeybear - I’m not a huge fan of Rep. Kay, but I’ve known him and people close to him since he was a likely candidate against Jay Hoffman all the way back in 2006. He’s believed the “Turnaround Agenda” since well before Governor Rauner was even involved in Stand for Children, so it’s not like he joined the “movement” in 2013. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:52 am: - Apocalypse Now -, Rauner wants you to take a paycut, everyone to take a paycut, otherwise no jobs are going to be created. You believe that? lol - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:56 am: ===Has everything to do with high union labor costs and benefits=== Don’t be an idiot. The steel makers themselves say it’s currency related. - Under Further Review - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:56 am: Sometimes, I think that Rauner needs to find Dr. Who and take a trip in his time machine. Other states are right to work states because of laws passed twenty to thirty years ago. As for Rauner going back to the future and turning back the clock, I think his energies would be better spent on achievable goals. Reforming Workman’s Comp would make much more sense and probably garner more support unless you are a trial lawyer. - Juvenal - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 10:57 am: I only point out Kay because most of these votes have occurred in relatively safe seats where, whether voted up our down, it is not going to change a legislator’s vote. This one could be different. Honeybear is correct, right-to-work is a building trades issue, and in Madison County the pro-gun, anti-tax building trades members are unquestionably Republican. But they will vote Kay out as sure as Sunday for trying to pilfer their paychecks. - Walter Mitty - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:04 am: Look… I don’t agree with the Gov’s stand on this…At all. But if he didn’t have polls of silent majorities behind him… He would stop this…It would be bad business to go alone… And, he is going to run this like a business… Like it or not… He must have some rather strong support in this position by the average voter… - Norseman - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:06 am: Z: Whose idea was this stupid resolution anyway? - Arsenal - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:15 am: “But if he didn’t have polls of silent majorities behind him… He would stop this” That’s the problem with silent majorities, though- they’re too damned quiet! If 60% of the state agrees with you on an issue but aren’t really willing to do anything about, and 30% opposes you and will crawl over broken glass to stop you, you don’t actually have a working majority on the issue. And the real danger is, come next election time, you’ve spent so much time fighting the 30% to a standstill that the 60% is like, “What have you done for me lately?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:27 am: FAKE! For Immediate Fake Release Contact: No one, it’s Fake. RAUNER SUCCESSFULLY ADVANCES TOURNAROUND AGENDA DISCUSSION Governor Rauner Keeps Promise of Local Discussion to Bring Back Illinois Springfield, IL - Governor Bruce Rauner is extremely pleased to see that the discussion of transforming government is being taken by so many in Illinois’ communities, bringing stste government back to the people, and bringing back Illinois, a promise Rauner made when taking office in January. “Seeing so many communities actively engaged in discussing change in Illinois is a marked success early in this Adininstration,” says Spokesperson. “To see local governments understand the discussion needs to take place, that hasn’t really ever happened before, the discussions are really the winners here.” The Rauner Adminstration will continue to monitor these discussions, which Rauner welcomes as an important tool Rauner has felt has been missing far too long in Illinois Government. “As other governing bodies continue the discussions started by the Governor, the Governor will continue to work on the items found in his agenda, allowing local government to continue to engage in the discussion to bring back Illinois,” says Spokesman. “It’s great for Illinois government that others will now carry the torch, and the discussion will continue.” ### Cutting loses never can sound good, lol - Wordslinger - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:30 am: AN, you should have gone to that second day of Econ 101. Strong dollar makes imports cheaper and kills exports. Savvy? - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:57 am: Even if 60% agree on a particular issue, it doesn’t mean that it’s a priority. Many support raising the minimum wage, for example, but it may not be among their top priorities. RTW does not seem to be a top priority issue for Illinoisans. It is a top priority for some super-wealthy conservatives. A great example was when Scott Walker met a prospective donor, billionaire Diane Hendricks, who asked him right off the bat if he’d pass RTW. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 4:19 pm: === - Walter Mitty - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 11:04 am: Look… I don’t agree with the Gov’s stand on this…At all. But if he didn’t have polls of silent majorities behind him… He would stop this…It would be bad business to go alone… And, he is going to run this like a business… Like it or not… He must have some rather strong support in this position by the average voter…==== WM- Please tell us what you are smokin’. There is a name…on the tip of my tongue… oh yeah: http://www.arduinlaffermoore.com/ http://www.laffercenter.com/the-laffer-center-2/ On the role/costs/benefits of unions, and on economics and tax policy, your Governor a dyed-in-the-wool member of the “flat-earth society.” He just pretended to be bipartisan and reasonable during the campaign. THERE IS NO silent majority in support of the policy changes Rauner wants; only the deluded and delusional folks that cheer on the shills at the Illinois Policy Institute. - Sick of It All - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 6:30 pm: Governor Rauner personally called Republican members of the Rockford City Council urging them to pass his agenda. Sad day in what used to be a strong union town. Zeke Giorgi would be outraged as many of us are. There are already people lining up to replace some City Council members. - MyTwoCents - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 6:35 pm: @ Walter Mitty, it has been discussed here numerous times how Rauner is on a mission to get unions and is single minded in it. How can you claim that he is acting rational with the Turnaround Agenda when all the evidence points to the opposite? - ash - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 7:31 pm: The Charleston City Council just voted to rescind their previous resolution. A new, slightly watered down, version is available for a two week comment period. A number of citizens spoke during the public comment session — not one in favor of the resolution. During the last meeting, the only people in support were legislators from afar being sent in by Rauner. The town is opposed…. - 1 term gov - Tuesday, May 5, 15 @ 9:34 pm: Ottawa Tuesday evening at their council meeting, passed unanimously, a resolution supporting labor. You go Ottawa! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.