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Workers’ Rights Amendment opinion roundup

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* Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea…

This election season, we have a historic opportunity to enshrine our right to organize and bargain collectively with coworkers in our state constitution when we vote yes on the Workers’ Rights Amendment. Doing so would send a powerful message that Illinois is and always will be a workers’ rights state while protecting Illinoisans from the whims of any anti-worker politician that may come along in the future.

Protecting collective bargaining has benefits for everyone in our state. When we protect the right to organize, we’re putting more money into the pockets of working people. A recent study from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that union construction workers, emergency responders like firefighters and registered nurses, and teachers earn anywhere from 5 to 35 percent more in Illinois compared to anti-worker states.

And those middle-class jobs are available to working people of all backgrounds across our state, no college degree necessary. Plus, collective bargaining raises wages for all workers, union or not. When pay goes up for union workers, non-union workers often see the benefits, as well as employers, compete with one another in a tight labor market.

For our first responders like firefighters, police officers, and nurses, the Workers’ Rights Amendment will protect their ability to collectively fight for better training and equipment on the job, keeping them safe while they keep our communities safe. These heroes know how to protect our communities, and when we strengthen their ability to collectively bargain, we protect their right to fight for the tools they need to get the job done.

* Illinois Policy Institute Executive Vice President Amy Korte…

Business owners will pay a high price if they vote for a proposed law at the top of the ballot on Election Day.

Amendment 1 is a potential change to the Illinois Constitution up for a vote Nov. 8. Proponents disingenuously refer to Amendment 1 as a “Workers’ Rights Amendment,” yet no Illinois worker would lose their rights if the amendment fails. Business owners would face hefty costs if it passes, though. […]

Uncertainty is a business person’s enemy, and here, too, the amendment presents a threat. The language is so broad that it attempts to regulate union bargaining powers in the private sector, but the federal government already regulates private-sector union workers. This could entangle private business owners in costly and time-consuming litigation, as the employers may need to go to court to determine which laws and protections apply to their businesses and unions.

More tax dollars for government unions and potential legal costs for private businesses translate into less money to hire workers or pay general operating expenditures. Amendment 1 wouldn’t just cut into Illinois businesses’ bottom lines: it could hinder operations as well.

* Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting opinion by Marc Poulos…

Instead, ever since Congress first passed national legislation allowing workers to form unions and bargain collectively, we’ve seen a steady and successful effort to erode these same rights in the courts and in dozens of states. Over the past 60 years, this has led to a historic low in the share of American workers represented by labor unions, even as unions enjoy historic highs in public opinion polling. […]

This has not been a good trend for workers or our economy. Research has shown that states where politicians have weakened unions and collective bargaining suffer from slower economic growth and lower levels of workforce productivity. Indeed, recent research from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign revealed that workers in these states earned lower wages; faced higher rates of poverty and income inequality; and were less likely to have health insurance, more likely to rely on government welfare programs and significantly more likely to be injured or killed on the job. […]

The Workers’ Rights Amendment to the Illinois Constitution offers a similar check on the structural power imbalance that has long existed at the workplaces where we spend so much of our lives.

Importantly, it will finally guarantee rights that have long proven to deliver higher job quality, better safety outcomes and a stronger overall economy.

* Adrienne Alexander and Father Clete Kiley writing for Chicago Catholic say support for the amendment is “not in doubt” in Catholic teachings …

The purpose of this article is to highlight relevant principles of Catholic social teaching that faithful citizens should take into consideration as they decide how to vote.

First, the right of workers to organize in unions is one of the oldest principles of modern Catholic social teaching. It was first articulated by Pope Leo XIII in 1891.

Observing the exploitation and abuse of the working classes during the early industrial revolution, the Holy Father observed in his encyclical “Rerum Novarum” that “workingmen’s unions” were helping redress cruel and inequitable conditions in the workplace and wished “that they should become more numerous and more efficient” (49).

This teaching has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the church ever since. “Among the basic rights of the human person is to be numbered the right of freely founding unions for working people,” according to the Second Vatican Council’s “Gaudium et Spes.” “Included is the right of freely taking part in the activity of these unions without risk of reprisal” (68).

* Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon…

Supporters of Amendment 1, the so-called Workers’ Rights Amendment, are all over the place with contradictory, outlandish claims about what the amendment would do if approved by voters in November.

The latest is their first TV ad featuring a private-sector health care worker at a children’s facility. He says, “These kids are fighters. We work with them so they can make it to their next birthday. We see these kids as family, but hospitals see them as dollar signs. They cut corners. Fewer nurses, longer shifts. It’s not safe for these kids. When we speak up, we risk being fired. But the Workers’ Rights Amendment will protect us as we stand up for our patients. I shouldn’t lose my job for putting them first. That is my job.”

But hold on. Applying the amendment to the private sector flatly contradicts what the lead sponsor of the resolution for the amendment told the Illinois Senate. In discussion on the Senate floor, state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said, “as federal labor law stands today, the amendment could not apply to the private sector.”

Which is it?

* Lake County News-Sun Managing Editor Charles Selle…

A vote in favor of Amendment 1, also called the benign Workers’ Rights Amendment, establishes a state constitutional right for Illinois employees to bargain collectively to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions. While Illinois is not a right-to-work state, there is nothing in the state’s Constitution to ensure it never becomes one.

The proposal is opposed by business interests and conservative organizations who maintain, if adopted, it will give too much power to unions and result in higher taxes. Opponents also claim the amendment is quite vague and tip the negotiating scale in favor of organized labor.

Less than a handful of states have similar amendments protecting collective bargaining in their constitutions. More than 30 states have right-to-work laws, despite studies showing the relationship between union membership, and higher salaries and benefits.

Currently, about 11.2% of U.S. workers belong to unions. A few years ago, it was 13%. The figure is even worse in the private sector, where just one in 15 employees is a union member.

…Adding… Illinois Family Action’s John Lopez…

Billed as the “Workers Rights Amendment” by its proponents, particularly within the publication from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign titled “The Workers’ Rights Amendment and Its Impact on Protecting Quality Jobs and Essential Industries in Illinois” published on August 11, this response will urge a “NO” vote on Amendment 1.

The reason for the “NO” vote is simple, and 3-fold.

It is the honest opinion of the author of this response Amendment 1 should not pass for the following reasons:

-Current Illinois law already guarantees the freedoms the proponents say are needed through passage of Amendment 1
-The proponents present their case focusing heavily on labor unions and not the workers across Illinois or the changing economy for workers choices and entrepreneurships which no longer need representation through a labor union
-With the current organized labor movement within Illinois, other states and within the current Administration and the United States Congress, the risks for all workers under the current Amendment outweigh the benefits proponents claim

Finally, all workers freedoms can be protected through a holistic approach to reforming current labor law at the national level and within the state of Illinois without the need for a constitutional amendment. As witnessed at the Port of Oakland in July where 1099 independent contractors and rank-and-file union members stood side-by-side, so can all stakeholders work respectfully together to build the long-term solution to ensure workers rights, while protecting the American workers’ freedoms within and outside of a labor union.

posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 9:51 am

Comments

No coincidence that authoritarianism and anti-unionism share a place in the same political party, with the southern red state economics of lower incomes and less protections for workers.

Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 10:16 am
Opponents are brainstorming ways to confuse the public on what the amendment says and would do. These are embarrassingly weak sauce so far.

I am sure they will come up with the most frightening messaging soon, and back it up with PAC resources.

Comment by walker Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 10:21 am
Anti-worker rights is a Republican staple. Yet union worker support for Republicans is very high. This is a Politico article from 2020, concerning the Presidential election union votes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/22/donald-trump-union-support-snub-joe-biden-418329

Comment by James the Intolerant Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 10:38 am
Not sure why this amendment is needed other then to assure a big Dem voter turnout - and grandson- unions are pretty authoritarian themselves. Try going against your union to claim fairshare

Comment by Sue Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 10:50 am
==Not sure why this amendment is needed==

Because the right to organize and collectively bargain is internationally recognized as a fundamental human right, and as such should be made more difficult for politicians to meddle with.

==unions are pretty authoritarian themselves==

Some unions, like every other institution devised by man, are run by bad people. But the fundamental right to organize and collectively bargain is based on demcoratizing the workplace, giving more people a say in how the place they spend 1/3rd of their life is run. That idea is absolutely anathema to authoritarianism. There’s a reason the Nazis attacked labor unions in Germany.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:01 am
===Not sure why this amendment is needed===

See: Rauner, Bruce V.

Enshrined rights is the safeguard. Looking who might be opposed is a good enough reason to look why it’s needed

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:06 am
==Try going against your union to claim fairshare ==

This also, try as you might, isn’t really an example of authoritarianism. Any time you go against a majority of your peers, it’s going to be rough. That’s actually one of the features of democracy.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:06 am
This could not be more Illinois. Think businesses large and small are struggling and unemployment is high now?

Wait to see what happens if this passes

Anti business, Pro trial lawyer and union legislation is the Illinois Democratic party’s specialty.

No one does it better and the results speak for themselves

Comment by Lucky Pierre Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:27 am
The people trying to bust unions as we speak are asking why this is needed.

Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:32 am
=Not sure why this amendment is needed other then to assure a big Dem voter turnout=

I don’t think that memorializing rights in the current environment is anything but prudent. As we’ve seen recently, settled law is not what some might purport it to be.

Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:43 am
The oppos to the WRA are nearly helpless because they have GovJunk still vivid and the handiwork of the Trump stooges on the Supreme Court.
Meantime all GOPPIE congressional candidates must be asked how they will vote when Charley McCarthy puts an abortion ban with no exceptions on the floor of the Congress? One word answers.

Comment by Annonin' Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:54 am
Sometime during tne Quinn administration the Illinois Public Labor RelaAct was modified to make employees in the offices of the constitutional officers excluded from the act.
What no one can or will seem to say is how this
amendment impacts that exclusion. I think it overrides it.

Comment by Ogit Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 11:56 am
“unemployment is high now”

Someone can clarify if necessary but, I don’t think 4.4% is anywhere close to high.

Comment by Proud Sucker Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 12:07 pm
==Think businesses large and small are struggling and unemployment is high now? ==

No, because they’re not. Businesses are whining, but that’s not the same thing. Come out of your bubble. Join us in the real world.

==Anti business, Pro trial lawyer and union legislation is the Illinois Democratic party’s specialty.==

The richest, most comfortable people in the state thank you for your slavish devotion to making them richer and more comfortable. They are particularly heartened to see that you never ever check under the hood of their lies no matter how obvious they are.

You’re a good pet. I hope they give you a biscuit.

Comment by Arsenal Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 12:41 pm
Since Raunerites got it handed to them by their own voters in June, who of the current statewide candidates will carry their anti-union banner?

Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 12:49 pm
Bailey is virulently anti-union. He voted against putting the WRA on the ballot and was quoted in a Proft fake paper saying unions are bullies.

Comment by Reality Check Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 1:46 pm
=Think businesses large and small are struggling and unemployment is high now?=

What world do you live in? Economists consider full employment as an unemployment rate of anywhere from 4% to 6.4% generally settling on 5.5%.

According to the August jobs report the unemployment rate is currently 3.7%.

Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 2:02 pm
===Anti business, Pro trial lawyer and union legislation is the Illinois Democratic party’s specialty.===

And yet Illinois ranks tops in site selection

Why are you still here? Every time you say things it’s a wonder how foolish you look staying when all your heroes left.

Utopia is out there. Be brave.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 2:05 pm
My bad… Chicago ranks.. tops.

Cited, numerous, numerous times.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 2:08 pm
==Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting opinion by Marc Poulos==

That’s a fancy way of saying Local 150.

==Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal==

These are the same people.

Comment by City Zen Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 2:41 pm
I always thought those who favor the GOP want to get government off the backs of the public to allow freedom-loving people the ability to make their own decisions. I guess that doesn’t apply to forming a labor union and negotiating over contracts.

Comment by Fivegreenleaves Friday, Sep 2, 22 @ 4:16 pm