Now that the Illinois Constitution has been amended to expand government union power, residents can expect to see costly government union demands, increased taxes and litigation to clarify its vague language.
The Illinois State Board of Elections certified the November election results Dec. 5, adding the proposed Amendment 1 to the Illinois Constitution.
Constitutional amendments require either 60% of those voting on the question to vote “yes” or a simple majority of all ballots cast in the election to approve the measure. Amendment 1 failed to reach the 60% threshold on the question but passed with a simple majority of all voters.
Now that it’s official, Illinois residents should be watching for at least three consequences: 1) costly government union demands in negotiations, 2) increased cost of government passed on to taxpayers and 3) litigation to clarify the amendment’s first-of-its-kind language.
Costly government union demands
Even before the amendment passed, the right to negotiate in Illinois was quite broad. Negotiations between the unions representing state and local government workers, including teachers, covered wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. Unlike most of our neighboring states, there were no limits to the wages and benefits government unions could demand.
But Amendment 1 expands bargaining to encompass broad new subjects, including “economic welfare” and “safety at work.” There is no definition or case law explaining what those terms mean. They could encompass virtually anything.
The Chicago Teachers Union has already tried to negotiate broad, non-traditional “economic” subjects into their contract with Chicago Public Schools, such as affordable housing. The Boston Teachers Union recently took a page out of CTU’s playbook when it negotiated the creation of 4,000 units of housing for homeless students into its contract. While the provision may seem altruistic in nature, the creation of housing for students is not traditionally negotiated into teacher contracts. It forces taxpayers to fund public policy decisions that their elected leaders should debate.
Amendment 1 empowers government union leaders to demand more than ever before and ensures they will have a permanent right to strike to get those demands met.
Read on here.
