As Illinois voters head to the polls for the November election, they’ll be asked to vote on a potential amendment to the state’s constitution. But what exactly is the “Workers’ Rights Amendment” and what will it change?
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At the top of every ballot across the state of Illinois is a proposal that, if passed, would add workers' right to organize and collectively bargain to the Illinois Constitution's Bill of Rights.
Here's how it reads on every ballot: "The proposed amendment would add a new section to the Bill of Rights Article of the Illinois Constitution that would guarantee workers the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively and to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions, and to promote their economic welfare and safety at work. The new amendment would also prohibit from being passed any new law that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety. At the general election to be held on November 8, 2022, you will be called upon to decide whether the proposed amendment should become part of the Illinois Constitution."
The measure is a proposed constitutional amendment that was passed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2021.
There are currently 24 sections in the Illinois Constitution's Bill of Rights, and if the measure passes, it would add a 25th section that reads as follows: "Employees shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work. No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and work place safety, including any law or ordinance that prohibits the execution or application of agreements between employers and labor organizations that represent employees requiring membership in an organization as a condition of employment."
Three states - Missouri, New York and Hawaii - have some version of employees' right to organize and bargain collectively enshrined in each of their state constitutions.
Illinois has a long history of labor organizing with effects that reverberate nationwide, dating back to the 19th century Haymarket Affair and Pullman strike, both in Chicago. And as some states across the U.S. have passed right-to-work laws in recent years - prohibiting union membership or dues payment as a condition of employment - Illinois has again played a central role in that national conversation.
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Former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, ran in 2014 on a platform that included weakening union participation and power. While many parts of his agenda were largely stymied by the Democratic-controlled legislature, he did win a major victory in that regard in 2018 with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. In a 5-4 decision on the case, which centered on an Illinois state employee, the court ruled that a public sector union's collection of fees from non-members was a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
Four years after that landmark case, unions across Illinois - like the local branches of the Laborers' International Union of North America, the International Union of Operating Engineers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Service Employees International Union, multiple teachers unions and many more - are backing the proposed amendment, collectively pouring millions into the effort to pass the measure. Some Democratic elected officials like Gov. J.B. Pritzker have also publicly supported the measure.
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Those opposing the amendment include groups like the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and rightwing think tank Illinois Policy Institute, which says its passage could cause property taxes in Illinois to increase because it may strengthen the collective bargaining power of public sector unions.
Also looking to defeat the measure are state Sen. Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for governor, as well as billionaire businessman and GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein, who contributed $1 million to the political action committee opposing the amendment.
As a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution, whether it passes or fails is a little more complicated than the other items on your ballot. It can be ratified one of two ways: if three-fifths (or 60%) of people voting on the amendment approve it, or if a simple majority (50% plus one) of all voters, including those who skip the question on their ballots, approve it.
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