Governor Pritzker Hands Labor A Major Victory

Bowing to pressure from organized labor lobbyists, on April 12 Governor Pritzker signed into law SB 1474, entitled the “Collective Bargaining Freedom Act,” which prohibits local units of government from passing right to work ordinances like the one passed in 2015 in Lincolnshire which was later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Rather than waiting for the U. S. Supreme Court to resolve a split among the circuits respecting local government authorities to promulgate such laws, SB 1474 makes Illinois one of the states where tradespeople can be compelled to join a union in order to be employed on pubic contracts at any level.

At the signing ceremony for the bill Pritzker emphasized his support for organized labor. “Right-to-work has always meant right to work for less money, and it’s wrong for Illinois,” he pronounced.