Illinois lawmakers send constitutional amendment on unions to voters

Illinois lawmakers are sending voters a new constitutional amendment to consider in the 2022 election that could make unionizing a right in the state. 

The House took a bipartisan vote Wednesday in favor of Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 11 with an 80-30 vote. The Senate also passed the amendment in a bipartisan fashion last Friday.

“What a great day in Illinois when the General Assembly can stand for workers' rights,” said the amendment’s sponsor, state Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago.

The amendment now goes to the voters, who will be able to decide if the amendment should become a part of the constitution in the November 2022 election.

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If passed, it would prohibit lawmakers from passing laws restricting public and private sector employees from collective bargaining. It would ensure Illinois never becomes a right-to-work state, which prohibits employees from being required to join a union as a condition of employment. Former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner pushed hard to make Illinois a right-to-work state like all of Illinois’ neighbors except for Missouri. Twenty-seven other states already are right-to-work states.

“The trend is clearly toward right-to-work because it’s about economic freedom and economic reality,” said Todd Maisch, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

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Several Republicans pushed back on the amendment, arguing it would be legally complicated for the businesses and the courts to decide what the language means.

“If we’re going to put a provision like this on the ballot, people should know exactly what rights and exactly remedies they’re going to be asked to live under,” said state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst.

The graduated income tax amendment was the last constitutional amendment given to the voters. It failed to receive 50% of the vote despite a strong push from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office.

“We have a trust problem in this state,” said state Rep. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport. “The graduated income tax got defeated because of a trust problem in this state.”

Despite their efforts, several Republicans joined Democrats voting to pass the amendment on to the voter.

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State Rep. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, argued “businesses come here in droves” because Illinois has few laws limiting union abilities.

“It is a proven fact that the annual incomes for Illinois workers are 6% higher when they have rights at work,” Collins said.

Maisch pushed back on Collins’ argument that this amendment could help attract more jobs to the state.

“It’s absolute malarkey,” he said.

Maisch said more states are moving in the opposite direction of Illinois and adopting laws giving workers a choice about unionization “because their employers have said we need flexibility in the workplace.”

He said the point of this amendment is really to accomplish objectives for labor groups that want employees to have to join a union to have a job. Maisch said federal law already has rules about this and Illinois’ proposed amendment is unnecessary.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mark Janus, a Springfield state employee in a landmark decision that found government employees who are not members of a union are not required to pay union dues as a condition of their employment.

Maisch said this case helps protect state workers from Illinois’ proposed amendment, but private employees are not subject to the precedent of the Janus case in the same way.