Voters being asked to change Illinois Constitution to benefit one group
Special interest groups shouldn’t be singled out for protection in the Illinois Constitution, but state lawmakers are asking voters to change that. If passed, Amendment 1 would protect government unions at the expense of everyone else.
The Illinois Constitution is where government operations are defined – not where special interests gain a status that puts them beyond the reach of state lawmakers.
But that will be the case in Illinois if voters on Nov. 8, 2022, agree to a union-backed effort to amend the state’s constitution.
Amendment 1 would hand Illinois’ government union leaders the most extreme powers in the nation. It does so by adding four labor provisions to the constitution.
- The “fundamental right” to organize and bargain
- The right to bargain over wages, hours, work conditions, economic welfare and safety, essentially an endless list of subjects.
- Prohibits lawmakers from ever changing anything about those first two provisions – including ever restricting government worker strikes
- Prohibits right-to-work laws
Giving union leaders more power than state lawmakers would be cemented into the Illinois Constitution. No other state does that, and 28 states don’t even bother to mention labor issues in their constitutions. No other state prohibits right-to-work laws, either.
If voters decide public union bosses deserve to be untouchable by state lawmakers, how can those union bosses be held accountable? Lawmakers face voters. Who would the union bosses face?