Amendment One is a ballot initiative in Illinois presented as a workers’ rights amendment. Adam Schuster of the Illinois Policy Institute describes the stunning expansion of labor union power that the amendment would foster.
Billed as a ban on “right-to-work” laws, Illinois Policy Institute analysis finds this amendment goes further and would give government union leaders more power than state lawmakers or even voters have.
“Amendment 1 would lead to the most extreme government union leader power in the nation, as 28 state constitutions don’t even mention labor issues,” Mailee Smith, director of labor policy for the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute, said. “There would be no limit on what government unions could demand and no limit on what state and local governments could give away. Because of this, new costs are bound to appear for taxpayers, piling onto the fiscal challenges the state faces.”
