(Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that ballots are still being counted).
SPRINGFIELD – Amendment 1, which would strengthen public employee unions, is close to receiving the 60% approval required for adoption.
According to NBC Chicago, with 86% of precincts counted as of the morning of Nov. 9, 59% percent are in favor to 41% opposed. The measure requires at least 60% voter approval.
Opponents have argued without success that vague language about worker rights masked a windfall for unions.
The amendment authorizes negotiations not only for wages and hours but also for economic welfare and safety.
It prohibits passage of any law that would negate, diminish, or interfere with collective bargaining.
Public employees defeated such a law in court in 2014, after governor Bruce Rauner and legislators reformed the state’s pension plan.
A major critic of Amendment 1, Illinois Policy Institute, warned it would guarantee pensions at a level the current system couldn’t sustain.
The institute stated the system is 21% funded and has $533 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Another critic, conservative think tank Wirepoints, argued that Amendment 1 would give "government teachers’ unions an unfettered constitutional right to demand not just anything in their interests, but in what they see as the interests of every Illinoisan. The amendment is not limited to employee matters at the workplace."