UPCOMING CHICAGO ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT: RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

by KHRISTIAN BASS STAFF WRITER

Amendment 1 is an amendment to the Illinois constitution that affirms the right of every employee to engage in organizing and collective bargaining done through representatives in the workplace through unions. This amendment is meant to use these measures to strengthen the ability of unions to be used to change and set into place specific hours, wages, and working conditions, and to ensure safety in the workplace. On top of this, this amendment will prohibit right-towork laws. For context, a right-towork law is a law that puts it into the hands of the workers to decide if they want to join a union at their workplace.

Opponents of Amendment 1 usually cite that this Amendment in allowing for increased unionization will lead to the average household in Illinois paying more money toward taxes. From the Illinois Policy Institute, “Amendment 1 would guarantee that the typical Illinois family pays at least $2,149 in higher property tax bills over the next four years, no matter which politicians hold office or whether they follow through on their campaign promises. This is a conservative estimate, assuming the rapid growth of Illinois’ property tax burden holds steady. It’s likely property taxes would grow at an even faster rate, because

Amendment 1 would give Illinois government unions unprecedented bargaining powers that don’t exist in any other state.” It should be noted that the Illinois Policy institute has been a major opponent of progressive policies.

Supporters of Amendment 1 are usually supporters of unions and the expansion of unions. These supporters usually cite unions as being a source for increased wages and better working conditions.

From State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D), “The falling rate of unionization has lowered wages, not only because some workers no longer received the higher union wage, but also because there is less pressure on nonunion employers to raise wages. The ability of unions to set labor standards has declined.” From this Senator, we can see that the general sentiment behind this amendment is that it is sure to positively affect the growth of unionization in the United States. Amendment 1 was put onto the ballot on November 8, 2022, where it was passed with a vote count of 2,212,999 (58.72%) for and 1,555,929 (41.28%) against, meaning that it would go into effect, with the hope that this will lead to more unionization in the workplace to act against the 4% drop in union rates over the last 5 years, as was alluded to by Sen. Ram Villivalam in the last section. Being 2022, it is too close to tell how effective this amendment will be, but news of newly organizing workplaces in Chicago and other areas of Illinois is continuing to develop daily. On November 2, 2022 before the amendment was passed, the UChicago Graduate Students United passed an endorsement alongside organizers at Northwestern University in a meeting with 200 people. Now that the amendment has been passed, it is likely that even more schools across Chicago will move towards graduate student unionization. The endorsement for Amendment 1 has quickly moved into unilateral action by the Graduate Students Union at the University of Chicago to turn the suggestions that unions are even more encouraged into the state of Illinois into action as the union spurred an election to gain a seat at the bargaining table at the end of January. The union will be able to hear about if this education is a success in March, but in terms of the Amendment we can already see that even as close as our school its effects are already being felt. Outside of the university, there’s also a hope that with the increase in union membership across the city there will be a decrease in poverty as the two seem to be very connected. All in all, it seems Amendment 1 will continue to make strides to protect workers across Illinois, and the people of Chicago will continue to see its effects.