| Why Should We Vote for the Worker's Rights Amendment?* David McCurdy
The proposed "Workers' Rights Amendment" to the Illinois Constitution is the first item on the mid-term ballot. It may also prove the most mystifying for many voters.
Unfortunately, the WRA itself is not printed on the ballot. (Full text appears at https://ballotpedia.org Illinois_Amendment_1,_Right_to_Collective_Bargaining_Measure_(2022)#Text_of_measure.) The ballot contains a summary of the amendment, followed by sample arguments for and against it. Pro and con TV ads and op-eds have also appeared.
Alas, much of this commentary is less informative than it might be. Opponents' arguments are often speculative, or simply fanciful, about supposed negative consequences of the WRA. Even proponents have tended toward broad generalizations without addressing the amendment's specifics.
The linchpin of the WRA may be the last part of this sentence: "No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively, . . . including any law or ordinance that prohibits the execution or application of agreements between employees and labor organizations . . . requiring membership in an organization as a condition of employment."
This provision would prevent Illinois from becoming a "right-to-work" state. Suppose a future legislature wished to pass a law allowing new or current employees to opt out of paying union dues or "agency fees" in order to work in a unionized setting. Such legislation would weaken existing unions and bargaining units, and erode current worker protections.
It would also hamper employees' ability to organize and form new bargaining units. Illinois would begin a slide toward greater income inequality and worker vulnerability, as has happened in right-to-work states.
As a constitutional amendment, the WRA would forestall such legislation. It would ensure continuation of the protections that Illinois law now provides to workers.
A vote for the WRA is not only a vote for workers but a vote for income equality--and for unions' critical role in reversing existing income inequality.
*P.S. Not incidentally, this is why we should also display WRA yard signs.
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