“Right to work zones” struck down again
Tuesday, Oct 2, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Bruce Rauner has been talking a lot lately about his dream for local “right to work” zones. But as Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line reported this morning, Rauner’s dream took a hit Friday when the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a district court judge that the zones would create “administrative nightmares”…
But in February of 2016, several labor groups sued, saying the NLRA only allows individual states to pass right-to-work laws, not local governments. Early last year, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly agreed with the unions, writing in his opinion that “it is highly unlikely that Congress intended to subject this national policy to the patchwork scheme that would result from city-by-city or county-by-county regulation of such agreements.” […]
“Illinois alone has almost 7,000 local governments,” Seventh Circuit Chief Judge Diane Wood pointed out in the ruling. “Not only are these jurisdictions more numerous than the states by several orders of magnitude, but they are also smaller.”
Wood wrote that workers may have to work in “numerous municipalities every week,” pointed to Lincolnshire’s 7,275 population as of the 2010 Census and very small land mass — only 4.68 square miles.
The idea that businesses operate exclusively within [Lincolnshire’s] borders strikes us as fanciful,” Wood wrote for the panel. “Is an employee subject to an agency agreement one day, when his job takes him to nearby Chicago, and not the next day, when he happens to be working on-site in Lincolnshire? What if neighboring Buffalo Grove has the opposite law?” […]
Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center, told The Daily Line on Monday that the Village of Lincolnshire plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, not only to vindicate the policy decision but also to solve a “circuit split” between the Seventh Circuit and the Sixth Circuit, which has ruled that municipalities do have the right to instate right-to-work law after a handful of counties in Kentucky voted to become Right To Work zones in 2014 and 2015.
The full opinion is here.
- Fixer - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:36 am:
Seems to be the argument being made LJC is an apples to oranges situation in that the Kentucky RTW zones were by counties, not municipalities.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:36 am:
Rauner’s dream= sticking it to the little guy.
Only someone as dishonest as Rauner would claim to improve the economy and raise wages by lowering wages.
Unless it is his “wage” that he wants to increase.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:39 am:
===… the Village of Lincolnshire plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, not only to vindicate the policy decision but also to solve a “circuit split” between the Seventh Circuit and the Sixth Circuit, which has ruled that municipalities do have the right to instate right-to-work law after a handful of counties in Kentucky voted to become Right To Work zones in 2014 and 2015.===
That’s really where this is.
The goal in all cases pertaining to destroy labor is to get SCOTUS rulings to… destroy labor.
Losing again, meh.
Get this to SCOTUS… that’s where these cases hope to prevail.
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:40 am:
===Village of Lincolnshire plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court===
Who’s paying for this?
- Uncle Merkin - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:42 am:
If the Supreme Court grants this cert, we can assume local right to work will be the law of the land. Unless of course, free bargaining states pass laws outlawing it. You know, like the one Rauner vetoed and Durkin hustled to prevent from being overridden. #BlueWave
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:48 am:
The KY RTW is being determined by the KY Supreme Court-
http://www.wkms.org/post/kentucky-supreme-court-considers-right-work-lawsuit
- Nick Name - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:57 am:
===Who’s paying for this?===
Jeffrey Schwab, quoted in the article, is senior attorney for Liberty Justice Center, which represented Mark Janus. So, ultimately the Koch brothers are footing the bill.
Also, check out their brand new senior fellow: Mark Janus himself!
https://tinyurl.com/yavjqpzq
- Texas Red - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:57 am:
“Is an employee subject to an agency agreement one day, when his job takes him to nearby Chicago, and not the next day, when he happens to be working on-site in Lincolnshire? What if neighboring Buffalo Grove has the opposite law?
I guess the judge never heard of prevailing wage. Non-union workers and contractors have benefits/regulations that will vary widely if they work on both public and private jobs.
- GA Watcher - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:02 am:
A recent article in the Tribune said the Liberty Justice Center is representing the Village pro bono. It is the legal arm of the Illinois Policy Institute.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:10 am:
The Liberty Justice Center is neither for liberty nor justice.
This is a case the Governor has supported from the beginning. It absolutely cannot be argued that the Governor is not anti-union. He is. And he’s digging in on it again.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:11 am:
Lincolnshire slobbering over the wages paid to labor and their costs is like hearing how JB had to rip out his toilets to afford McDonalds Happy Meals.
Whatever happened to being a good citizen and supporting your neighbors? Are both political parties seeing themselves as buyer’s clubs for the well connected?
Politics is wrecking everything.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:19 am:
The Right To Work………..for less
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:25 am:
Unions have the luxury of Pritzker pounding Rauner financially, but they must tell their stories in this election. I think they should do ads, to show the damage Rauner caused in his quest to cripple them. They can’t be complacent. This is not about Pritzker so much as it is about standing up for rights and good jobs.
There’s the great option of McCann for conservative folks who love their union rights.
Show the local government meetings where union members rejected Rauner’s anti-union TA. Show the Janus suit, the AFSCME impasse, Rauner ripping off state workers on steps for the last four years. Tie these types of things to Rauner purposely sabotaging the budget and the damage.
Hopefully the SCOTUS seat won’t be filled just yet.
- Steve - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:26 am:
The law is the law. It’s pretty clear. I don’t see why the U.S. Supreme Court would take this case.
- kitty - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:27 am:
Rauner, the IPI and corporate investor class will spare no efforts to advance this to SCOTUS, albeit no guarantee cert will be given. The addition of Gorsuch and likely addition of Kavanaugh will likely result in decisions that favor wealthy corporate interests and are hostile to organized labor and middle-class Americans.
- MG85 - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:43 am:
==I don’t see why the U.S. Supreme Court would take this case.==
The same reason why the SCOTUS took the Janus case. Law, precedent, and reason don’t matter.
All that matters is the Koch Brothers’ agenda to further tip the already far unbalanced scales against workers and for billionaire tycoons.
- Blue Dog Dem - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:51 am:
The trade unions cannot survive if the only ones using them are government entities. Consumers must see the value in union produced goods to make this work. Remember this with your wallets.
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 11:52 am:
Blue Dog Dem- How’s this for hitting consumers with something they may treasure;)
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2018/09/12/four-roses-bourbon-distillery-strike-new-benefits-system/1273548002/
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 12:28 pm:
One of the impacts on a major festival in KY because of RTW -
http://www.wdrb.com/story/39062767/union-members-on-fourth-day-of-labor-strike-outside-four-roses
- blue dog dem - Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 12:43 pm:
Annon221. Thanks. Great stuff. Personally not a bourbon drinker, but I will spread the word. Might even gift some Four Roses if they settle.
- working stiff - Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 6:28 am:
==Only someone as dishonest as Rauner would claim to improve the economy and raise wages by lowering wages.
Unless it is his “wage” that he wants to increase. ==
ding ding … winner
that’s the whole idea behind trying to get rid of unions. increasing profit margin for those at the top.
- Mama - Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:48 am:
How does JB feel about Rauner’s ‘Right to Work Zones’? How does he plan to create good playing jobs?