Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Your daily “right to work” update

Posted in:

Illinois

* From the governor’s office…

Hi, Rich!

Hope you’re doing well today.

Just wanted to let you know Piatt County passed the resolution this morning.

Best,
ck

I am doing well, Catherine. Thanks!

* Upcoming votes via the IL AFL-CIO…

Wednesday: Kendall County Legislative/Judicial Committee - cancelled

Thursday: Stephenson County Board, 6:30 p.m., 50 W. Douglas Street, Freeport

* Meanwhile, from the Elgin Courier-News…

A Kane County resolution calling for state reform got thumbs up from county board members and union members who cited the county as an example of how efficiently government should operate.

Scott Roscoe, of the Fox Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, spoke at several meetings earlier this month regarding the resolution, but his speech had a different tone Tuesday when he conceded the county board’s work on the matter has not been easy.

He thanked the county board for what the resolution says — and what it doesn’t say.

Gov. Bruce Rauner asked the county board, like other governmental bodies, to pass a resolution — provided by his office — supporting his Illinois Turnaround Agenda. Union members have protested Rauner’s reforms accusing the governor of attacking the middle class and unions.

Kane County officials chose to draft their own document that does not touch on any of the controversial issues in Rauner’s version while touting the county’s best practices.

* Daily Herald…

“We needed something that (Rauner) would value that didn’t cost us our unity,” Lauzen said.

The result was a resolution that passed 21 to 3 Tuesday, with only three Aurora-based Democrats objecting. The vote signaled a bipartisan win for a document that calls for budget and pension reform in Springfield while also being a document local union supporters, like Fox Valley Building Trades President Scott Roscoe, lined up to support Tuesday.

“I rise today to thank our county board,” Roscoe said. “Thank you for not including support for right to work, repeal of the prevailing wage act or bans against project labor agreements. We all agree Springfield has work to do. The state of Illinois should be looking to Kane County to see how efficient and effective government operates and how to work within its means.”

In reply, county board member Mike Kenyon, a former chairman of the Kane County Republican Party, voiced his appreciation for local unions.

“I’ve come to realize that if we didn’t have organized labor we wouldn’t have paid vacations. We wouldn’t have health insurance. We wouldn’t have sick days. And I don’t think it’s fair for anybody to blame any of the state’s problems on organized labor,” Kenyon said.

* Related…

* Chamber walks a thin line between Emanuel, Rauner: But the only specifics the chamber’s resolution gets into are “minimizing regulatory burdens and mandates” and “reasonable reforms to minimize the high employer cost related to workers compensation and unemployment insurance.” Nary a word about stripping power from unions, right-to-work, term limits on lawmakers or the prevailing wage. Those omissions are intentional, says Michael Reever, the chamber’s vice president of government relations. “It’s very clear which issues we support and which issues we think the governor should focus on,” says Reever. The ones referenced in the resolution—workers comp, unemployment insurance and tort reforms—”are issues we have supported for decades.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:09 pm

Comments

Dear CK:

Please. Stop already. You look more ridiculous by the day.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:13 pm
For the 8th time, why do these local units even take up these proposals? It’s a trap people!

Comment by John A Logan Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:15 pm
Well, Piatt County (pop. 16,433) has spoken.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:16 pm
Kane County also happens to be one of the few counties in Illinois gaining population, as compared to the state which is lately touted as having many moving vans headed out. They must be doing something right.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:19 pm
“They must be doing something right.” They have farmland to sprawl into.

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:31 pm
Well done, Mike Kenyon!

(Of course, well done, Scott Roscoe.)

But that QUOTE! Thank you.

Comment by crazybleedingheart Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 1:57 pm
ck reporting on the imaginary ballon that deflates faster each day. Best, and THANKS

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:21 pm
Lincoln Co auxiliary book club (3 members!) passed the resolution 2-1!

ck!

Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:26 pm
Hi Rich
I was standing in line at star bucks and two people ahead of me passed with RTW agenda!

Thanks
ck

Comment by BlameBruceRauner Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:37 pm
Hi Rich,

A small lemonade stand at the end of my block passed the agenda. Subsequently the prices went up 10%, 2 children were laid off w/out notice and the last kid took a 20% pay cut.

Thanks
ck!

Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:42 pm
“We lost Piatt!”
“NO! Tell me it ain’t so! NO!”
“We’re DOOMED I tell ya - DOOMED!”
“Monticello? Bement?”
“GONE!”
“If we lose Piatt - what hope have we in - MOULTRIE?”
“Shut up man! Shut up! That’s crazy talk!”
“I mean, if we lose Piatt and Moul…!”
“GET IT TOGETHER MAN!”
“Piatt? WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ALL THE EMPTY COUNTIES, MAN?”
“Sorry, dude - I know this one hurts, but Piatt, well, Piatt was one we could afford to lose…”
“How could you say that?”
“Have you ever been there?”
“I don’t know. Yeah? NO? Maybe? Near St. Louis?”
“No man - you probably been there, driving through, they had a rest area there on I-72…”
“NO! Not the place with the rest area!”

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:42 pm
Hi Rich,

The Walter Peyton Prep student council passed the Trunaround Agenda with one Yes and the rest of the members voting Present!

Thanks
Ck!

Comment by Anon Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:47 pm
The last couple of posts had me falling out of my chair. Great job! Certainly seems as if this is what it is coming to, doesn’t it? I hope the R’s vote tomorrow and not just “Present”.

Comment by NewWestSuburbanGOP'er Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:53 pm
Hi Rich,

I was at the pet store, and saw a sign “Support RTW”. Although I later learned it meant Real Tiny Weasels, I feel this a ‘win’ for Rauner.

Best,
ck!

Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 2:57 pm
Hi Rich,

Today Bruce received letters of support from Montgomery Burns and Scrooge McDuck on RTW! The momentum continues….

Best,
ck!

Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 3:11 pm
Turnaround resolutions by small localities. Big wup.

Do we have an actual RTW bill from the admin to consider in tomorrows cmte of the whole? No? Still “protecting the process”?

If no bill, your bluff has been called.

Comment by Langhorne Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 3:46 pm
Of course, it doesn’t really lend to your credibility when many municipalities are approving the resolutions partially because they think Rauner may spare them LGDF cuts or otherwise help them out if they do.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 5:33 pm
No RTW bill produced by Team Rauner for the legislature to consider? Must be the Democrats’ fault!

You might still claim it’s being created by the working groups, which the Dems are somehow sabotaging. Prove it!

Very late in the process to have nothing but press releases and speeches.

Comment by walker Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 6:48 pm
They have farmland to sprawl into.

So does Piatt County, which despite its “right to work” ethic, lost a few hundred of its 16,000 residents from 2010 to 2014.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 6:51 pm
^True, but Kane also has people to do the sprawling. Kane has more high school students than Piatt has residents.

Comment by CEA Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 8:40 pm
Hard to see what the Rauner objective is for this dog and pony show. I can’t imagine that the “grassroots support” demonstrated has flipped one vote in the GA.

If he just wanted to join the ALEC effort in Kentucky to challenge federal labor law at the county level, he could have done so without taking this beating all over the state. It would have been easy enough to identify a guinea pig without all these votes.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, May 14, 15 @ 7:37 am
Piatt County posted notice online 24 hours in advance of 9:00 am meeting and did not allow public comments. Looks like they are adopting more than just his agenda.

Comment by nadia Thursday, May 14, 15 @ 7:43 am