Illinois has long been a stronghold of government-union power. Time will tell if a state constitutional amendment that would cement union power as a “fundamental right” in the state constitution is a step too far for the state’s residents. Passed in May by the Illinois General Assembly, Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 11 will appear on the ballot on November 8, 2022. Framed as a right-to-work ban, the bill in fact would give government unions in Illinois extraordinary power over taxpayers and those dependent upon government services forever, absent a future amendment.
Applying broadly to all “employees” in the state, the bill would create a “fundamental right” to organize and bargain through a union, placing union organizing on par with freedoms of speech and religion. As part of that right, union leaders would enjoy a constitutionally guaranteed ability to negotiate over “wages, hours, and working conditions,” as well as over “economic welfare” and “safety at work”—in other words, over virtually everything. The amendment would also forbid the state and its local governments from passing any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety.”
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