McHenry Times

Issued the following announcement on May 24.

Lawmakers seek to enshrine public union power in the Illinois Constitution State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are preparing to enshrine the extensive power of Illinois unions into the state constitution. 

Illinois lawmakers want to cement union powers into the state constitution

State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are preparing to enshrine the extensive power of Illinois unions into the state constitution.

The Illinois Senate has passed, and the House is preparing to vote on, a resolution for a constitutional amendment creating a new “fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively” for matters that include workers' “economic welfare.” The resolution further prohibits the state and local governments from passing any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.” The recent Senate vote was bipartisan, with 11 of the Senate’s 18 Republicans voting for the resolution. No Senate Democrats opposed the measure.

If the House passes the resolution – and voters approve the amendment in November 2022 – essential labor reforms Illinois needs will be blocked. With both pensions and labor union powers protected by the state constitution, it’s unlikely the state can be turned around without falling into some form of chaos first.

The amendment is being widely reported as a private-sector union push to prevent Right-to-Work laws in Illinois, but those reports miss the bigger issue, which we will focus on here. The proposed language would lock-in a broad, new constitutional right and eliminate any hope of reforming collective bargaining rules for public sector unions – in perpetuity. From Capitol News Illinois:

During discussion on the measure Friday, Sen. Villivalam said it would have minimal impact on private-sector workers because the National Labor Relations Act governs organizing and collective bargaining in the private sector. He said the intent was to protect the right to collective bargaining that is already established under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and the Illinois Education Labor Relations Act.

Illinois public sector unions already benefit from some of the most union-friendly labor laws in the country. Collective bargaining is compulsory in Illinois, teachers have the right to strike, public safety unions can force governments into binding arbitration, and more. Those rules have helped union members acquire some of the most generous salaries and retirement benefits in the country, contributing to Illinois’ largest-in-the-nation pension debts and the country’s lowest credit rating.

The good news is, the amendment must be voted on by the people. And with a strong majority of Illinoisans having recently rejected a progressive income tax amendment, the likelihood of voters authorizing a measure so blatantly pro-union is in doubt.

Which might be why the unions and their legislative supporters are acting now. They want one final pro-union blitz to lock-in their gains. This measure would ensure that even if current lawmakers are voted out, public union power would be protected.

Below are seven reasons why Illinois public unions shouldn’t have their collective bargaining powers permanently enshrined in the Constitution.*

Please note that the focus is on public unions, though the ban on implementing right to work applies to the private sector as well.

In addition, be aware that the extraordinarily broad and vague language of the proposed amendment raises many questions not addressed here, some of which we mentioned in our recent Quickpoint. Aside from barring future reforms, which is in the second sentence of the amendment, the first sentence creates a broad, new constitutional right that would likely be given independent meaning by courts.

 

1. Illinois’ public worker labor laws are extremely union friendly and come at the expense of ordinary Illinoisans. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has laid out the eight levels of bargaining regimes nationally, from least union friendly (collective bargaining prohibited = 1) to most union friendly (forced arbitration required = 8).

Illinois receives a 7 and 8 – the most union-friendly levels – due to its rules of compulsory collective bargaining, the right to strike and the ability to force binding arbitration. Said another way, Illinois’ labor laws are some of the least taxpayer friendly in the nation.

At the other end of the spectrum, Virginia prohibits collective bargaining for state workers. For that, it earns a 1 on the scale.

2. Illinois is an outlier nationally when it comes to giving unions power. In 2016, the Heritage Foundation compared state public labor laws using a variety of metrics, including each state’s NBER collective bargaining score, its Right-to-Work status, the legality of strikes, and overall union membership.

Illinois was ranked an extreme outlier nationally, with only Pennsylvania, Alaska and Minnesota having a more union-friendly environment.

3. Illinois’ labor laws are uncompetitive compared to its neighbors. Illinois’ labor laws are even more of an outlier when they’re compared to the neighboring states they compete with directly for jobs and residents. While Illinois’ neighbors are a mixed bag when it comes to collective bargaining, Illinois is the only state with union-friendly rules across the board.

And unlike Illinois, the state’s neighbors have also changed their labor laws over time to be more competitive. For example, Wisconsin passed its Act 10 reforms and Iowa passed sweeping collective bargaining changes that made both states more taxpayer friendly.

If Illinois’ amendment passes, Illinois will never be able to adjust labor laws to compete with its neighbors.

4. Illinois teachers’ ability to strike is particularly uncompetitive. Illinois is the only one among its neighbors and one of just twelve states overall that allows teachers unions to strike.

That’s allowed teachers unions to use the threat of strikes to constantly get their way in contract negotiations. The Chicago Teachers Union, for example, has used strikes or the threat of strikes constantly to extract maximum concessions from Chicago Public Schools. Most recently, Mayor Lori Lightfoot opened contract negotiations in 2019 by offering the “most generous” contract in CTU history. The union went on strike anyway and ended up with even greater benefits that ordinary, overtaxed Chicagoans will find it hard to pay for.

5. Illinois taxpayers are already burdened with the 2nd-highest paid state workers in the nation. Illinois’ collective bargaining rules have propelled Illinois state workers the 2nd-highest paid in the nation after adjusting for cost-of-living, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Illinois state workers also benefit from Cadillac healthcare plans, free retiree health insurance, and generous pensions on top of Social Security – adding to a total compensation package that costs taxpayers more than $110,000 annually per state worker.

6. Public sector workers salaries are growing far faster than Illinoisans can afford. Illinois collective bargaining rules – long-term guaranteed contracts, automatic raises and non-public negotiations – have also helped grow government worker salaries in Illinois at a far more rapid pace than the earnings of those who bear the burden of paying for them.

For example, Illinois state worker salaries increased 38 percent between 2005 and 2018. Teacher salaries have grown 32 percent. And local police and firefighter salaries have grown a whopping 58 percent. Meanwhile, the earnings of private sector Illinoisans who pay for all those public salaries have only grown 25 percent – less than the growth of inflation over the period.

7. Illinois’ pension benefits, particularly COLAs, are among the most generous in the country. Generous salaries translate into expensive pension benefits when Illinois government workers retire. The average, recently retired, career state pensioner in Illinois receives $70,600 in annual pension benefits and can expect to collect over $2.3 million in total benefits.

That’s a result of high final salaries and one of the most generous cost-of-living adjustments in the country, which doubles a retiree’s annual pension after 25 years in retirement.

All Illinoisans need to know about the impact of this blatant attempt to lock-in union power. Share this piece with others and like Wirepoints on Facebook to spread the word.