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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR'S OFFICE: Gov. Pritzker Signs Collective Bargaining Freedom Act

Illinois Governor's Office issued the following announcement on April 12.

Making good on his promise to put Springfield back on the side of working families, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Collective Bargaining Freedom Act (SB 1474), protecting the right of employers, employees, and their labor organizations to collectively bargain and ensuring that the State of Illinois complies with the National Labor Relations Act.

In 2015, the Village of Lincolnshire passed a so-called right-to-work ordinance that has since been stuck down by the U.S. District Court in January 2017 and U.S. Appeals Court in September 2018, respectively. The bipartisan legislation was passed in the House with a vote of 101-8-0 and the Senate concurred with a vote of 51-0-0.

The following are the governor's remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you to Senator Ram Villivalam and Representative Yednock for your leadership on this bill. And thank you to the overwhelming bipartisan majority of legislators who joined together to vote for this legislation.

Thank you to our hard-working labor leaders and members for their advocacy here. And I also want to acknowledge Mike Kleinik, our acting Director of the Department of Labor, who is working hard every day to make sure we live up to our obligation to working families.

This legislation makes it abundantly clear that we are turning the page here in Illinois. No longer will we be divided by false choices and misplaced blame. This is a time when we can and will take bipartisan action to lift up working families.

The collective bargaining Freedom Act ensures that Illinois and all of its communities will never be a Right to Work state.

From the start, Right to Work was an idea cooked up by radical forces to lower wages, slash benefits, and hurt our working families.

Right to Work has always meant right to work for less money and there is just no place for that in Illinois.

This is a state where workers have the right to come together and negotiate a better deal. This is a state that listens when workers raise their voice for fair wages, good benefits, and safe working conditions. This is a state where working families can thrive.

Since day one of my administration, I have focused on living up to our promise to put Springfield back on the side of working families.

I signed an executive order restoring project labor agreements, I signed another fighting wage theft and day labor exploitations, and I signed legislation enforcing prevailing wage.

In February, we moved forward with historic legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

After nearly a decade, 1.4 million Illinoisans will soon be taking home more money to their families after a hard day's work.

And just this week, we introduced language for a constitutional amendment to bring a fair tax to Illinois.

As I've said, it is wrong that I would pay the same tax rate as someone earning $100,000 - or someone earning $30,000. It's time for the wealthy to pay more and the middle class and those striving to get there to pay less. That's what the fair tax will do.

Under this plan, anyone making $250,000 or less will pay the same or less, while only 3% of the people in our state pay more.

It's no secret that we face real fiscal challenges in the state of Illinois. But I will never be a governor who seeks to balance our budget on the backs of working families. I will be a governor who puts middle class families first.

I want this administration to be judged by the work we do to lift up working families and help every single Illinoisan thrive.

We're taking another step in that direction with legislation - a law that not only is the right thing to do, but that will also ensure that the state of Illinois is following the National Labor Relations Act.

Original source can be found here.

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